Arsenal's charge towards the Premier League title continued on Sunday as the north London outfit dismantled a resolute Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium. The Eagles were looking to register a first win since the turn of the year, with former Gunners captain Patrick Vieira sacked on Friday because of his side's poor run of form.
However, the home side soon put any doubts to rest as Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka gave the Emirates Stadium something to cheer about just before half-time. Granit Xhaka added a third just before Jeffrey Schlupp pulled one back, but Saka found another goal to restore the three-goal cushion to win 4-1.
"Really happy, really pleased," Mikel Arteta said on the performance after the victory. "The way we started the game I was already really pleased with how they reacted to Thursday. We took any question mark away from it, showed a lot of determination and purpose in our way of playing.
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"Really happy to perform the way we did after playing 120 minutes, after losing two big players for us and then still compete and win the game in the way that we did."
While it was the exact response Arteta wanted from his side, the bigger picture will be looking towards the Premier League title race they are involved in. Not only was the victory yet another game out of the way before the conclusion of the campaign, it extended the lead to eight points over Manchester City.
Their title rivals won't be able to respond this week as they have been occupied with FA Cup obligations, meaning they have a game in hand. While the Gunners have already proved that can be an advantage in catching up, the most important thing is that the side have points on the board.
At this stage of the season, no win is guaranteed and games that may seem simple on paper can be anything but that as teams look to finish strongly. That psychological advantage could be the difference for Arsenal, heading into the final few months of the campaign.
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