This had always looked an appetising assignment for Arsenal to use as a reset and, sure enough, Crystal Palace were the most obliging of visitors. Nothing should be taken away from Mikel Arteta’s side, who reminded their title rivals that they are far from a lost cause and showed the benefits of a warm-weather training break in Dubai. They were nowhere near full tilt in easing clear by five goals and it pleased their manager hugely that Gabriel Martinelli, largely blunt this season, came on to crown their afternoon with two identical finishes in added time.
Shortly after that, the uncertainties that have set in at Palace were laid bare. Upon the full-time whistle Roy Hodgson stared impassively towards an away section that held up banners reading “Wasted potential on and off the pitch, weak decisions taking us backwards” and “No shared vision, no structured plan, [Steve] Parish out, Yanks out”. His players had been present in body only, offering scant resistance in those moments when Arsenal turned up the heat, and a run of one win in 12 games across all competitions bodes ominously.
So, perhaps, did the presence of Graham Potter in the Emirates stands. Should Palace’s owners, who came under far heavier fire than Hodgson, opt to make a change the former Chelsea and Brighton manager is probably the best out-of-work alternative. But there would be no quick fix in revitalising a group, albeit depleted by the absences of Jordan Ayew and Michael Olise, that look patently low both on morale and the quality required to consistently pick up results.
When it mattered, Palace lost every battle going. Arteta could rightly be delighted that well-executed set-pieces offered up headers to Gabriel Magalhães for Arsenal’s first two goals, even if the second was attributed to Dean Henderson. On both occasions, though, Gabriel made mincemeat of his marker Chris Richards in textbook exhibitions of superior movement and aggression.
It meant Arsenal have scored 10 times from corners this season, more than anyone else in the Premier League. Their third goal came from a lightning counter after Palace, who had emerged for the second half with a little more intent, squandered a corner of their own. Leandro Trossard finished the move, scoring in the league for the first time since 11 November; Arteta punched the air and it became an occasion for the recently goal-shy hosts to remember their lines.
Arsenal had started sharply enough when Declan Rice, who came off in the second half complaining of muscle tightness, floated over a corner that openly invited an aerial battle. In the end it met no such competition: the only player straining every sinew to reach it was Gabriel, who completely outfought Richards and rose high before nodding to Henderson’s left.
In the period before doubling their lead Arsenal had drifted slightly, David Raya redeeming a poor clearance by saving at full stretch from Jefferson Lerma. But there was never much sense of jeopardy and, after smart interplay between Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka earned the latter an inswinger from the right, Gabriel ran around the back. He lost the hapless Richards again and, via a sizeable diversion off Henderson, found the net from an angle. Palace felt Ben White had blocked Henderson, but VAR had no sympathy.
From there Arsenal operated in bursts, which was all they needed to do. This became the mixture of control and finishing power Arteta has craved, although they will rarely be asked this few questions. To his credit Eberechi Eze kept trying to probe and, a little before Trossard’s strike, made Raya save smartly from range. The keeper would later bat over an Eze free-kick but that was the sum of Palace’s threat. They departed without creating a single clear chance.
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Arsenal soaked up the little that came in their direction, and then put Palace away. Raya, who has earned mixed reviews since taking Aaron Ramsdale’s spot, deserved plaudits for catching Will Hughes’s hopeful cross and rapidly sending Gabriel Jesus away with a subsequent throw. Earlier on Jesus had centred for Trossard, only for the Belgian to miscue glaringly. This time the combination yielded far more, Jesus streaking away and setting up his teammate for a finish that, via a shimmy that sent Nathaniel Clyne to the floor, gave Henderson no chance.
Arteta visibly enjoyed that sequence and, with the points sealed, Arsenal cruised through the latter stages. That was until the substitute Martinelli, always an insistent presence, twice found space in an inside-left channel vacated by opponents who had nothing left. “He wasn’t fully, fully fit,” Arteta said. But both times he opened up his body to shoot with his right foot; both times he scored and Arsenal could reflect on the perfect pick-me-up. Hodgson, in the meantime, could only wonder how he turns Palace’s fortunes around from here.
