Crystal Palace were handed a 5-1 defeat by a relentless, if not outright dominant, Arsenal side on Saturday night.
Fresh from one the return of the Carabao Cup against Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, Arsenal picked up where they left off. Midweek hat-trick hero Gabriel Jesus fired the Gunners ahead in the sixth minute at Selhurst Park, netting Bukayo SakaHis deep cross to the back post before firing beyond Dean Henderson.
Ismaila Sarr hit back for the visitors just five minutes later, finishing off a sequence of clear passes with a shot into the far corner. In a wild first half, where there were a flurry of chances for both teams, Arsenal it had the edge that the Palace lacked.
Jesus rattled in his second of the evening from a 14th-minute corner, while Jean-Philippe Mateta was thwarted at the other end by David Raya. Arsenal's in-form Brazilian pulled away from his second hat-trick of the week with a header against the woodwork, but Kai Havertz was on hand to remove the blow.
Leandro Trossard – a first-half substitute for wounded Saka – broke Palace's offside trap just after the hour mark. The Belgian scored for Jesus, who was denied by Henderson. Declan Rice, another substitute, was on hand to head the loose ball past Gabriel Martinelli to extend Arsenal's lead to 4-1.
Palace were unfortunate to go three goals down but had lost all their buzz and buzz by the time Rice added a fifth for the Gunners in the 85th minute. That deflected effort sealed three points which put Arsenal back in the lead the third place. The Gunners trail Chelsea by a point and are three adrift of Liverpool before both clubs are in action on Sunday.
|
Player |
ASSESSMENT |
|---|---|
|
GC: Dean Henderson |
4.0/10 |
|
RWB: Nathaniel Clyne |
6.1/10 |
|
CB: Chris Richards |
4.5/10 |
|
CB: Maxence Lacroix |
5.9/10 |
|
CB: Marc Guehi |
5.8/10 |
|
LWB: Tyrik Mitchell |
7.6/10 |
|
RM: Ismail Sarr |
8.0/10 |
|
CM: Will Hughes |
6.4/10 |
|
CM: Jefferson Lerma |
6.3/10 |
|
LM: Daichi Kamada |
6.1/10 |
|
ST: Jean-Philippe Mateta |
6.9/10 |
|
UNDER: Eddie Nketiah (61' for Kamada) |
6.0/10 |
|
UNDER: Cheick Doucoure (68' for Lerma) |
6.0/10 |
|
UNDER: Justin Devenny (69' for Hughes) |
6.3/10 |
|
UNDER: Caleb Kporha (81' for Clyne) |
N/A |
|
UNDER: Jeffrey Schlupp (81' for Mateta) |
N/A |
Subs not used: Matt Turner (GK), Joel Ward, Trevoh Chalobah, Asher Agbinone
|
Player |
evaluations |
|---|---|
|
GC: David Raya |
8.0/10 |
|
RB: Jurrien Timber |
7.2/10 |
|
CB: William Saliba |
6.8/10 |
|
CB: Gabriel |
7.6/10 |
|
LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly |
6.7/10 |
|
CM: Martin Odegaard |
6.9/10 |
|
CM: Thomas Partey |
7.9/10 |
|
CM: Kai Havertz |
8.1/10 |
|
RW: Bukayo Saka |
6.2/10 |
|
ST: Gabriel Jesus |
9.2/10 |
|
LW: Gabriel Martinelli |
7.9/10 |
|
UNDER: Leandro Trossard (24' for Saka) |
6.4/10 |
|
UNDER: Riccardo Calafiori (58' for Lewis-Skelly) |
7.8/10 |
|
UNDER: Declan Rice (58' for Havertz) |
8.4/10 |
|
UNDER: Ethan Nwaneri (86' for Jesus) |
N/A |
|
UNDER: Mikel Merino (86' for Timber) |
N/A |
Subs not used: Neto (GK), Jakub Kiwior, Kieran Tierney, Jorginho