Gabriel Jesus put his recent goalscoring woes aside as his second-half hat-trick inspired Arsenal to come from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 and reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
The Brazil forward had entered the game with one goal in his previous 33 away appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, but his hat-trick rescued Mikel Arteta's side – who fell behind to Jean-Philippe Mateta's fourth-minute strike.
It was a poor goal for the Gunners on the receiving end, especially for Jakub Kiwior who was too easily outwitted by the Palace striker from Dean Henderson's route one, leaving the Frenchman to finish past David Ray.
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Jean-Philippe Mateta takes a long ball across the Arsenal defense and beats Jakub Kiwior to give Crystal Palace an early lead
It was another night where Arsenal's attacking quality, particularly its depth, was called into question. Their best chances of the first half came from set-pieces when Jefferson Lerma cleared Leandro Trossard's corner off the line, before Henderson headed home Raheem Sterling's free-kick from the top corner.
Arteta brought on captain Martin Odegaard at half-time which solved these problems. Sterling should have put the Gunners ahead when he was met by Kieran Tierney's fine cross, giving Arsenal their first start in 548 days, but he fired straight at Henderson and then hit the crossbar from the rebound.
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Raheem Sterling had a moment to forget after a superb save from Dean Henderson denied his first shot and the woodwork thwarted his second
But Jesus eventually broke Palace's resistance eight minutes after the break when the influential Odegaard found the striker in the box and his turn confounded Marco Guehi. His deft chip over Henderson was even better.
Jesus thought he had a moment when he turned well again in the area – but Henderson curled his effort into the side netting.
Arsenal brought on Bukayo Saka in added time when he, like Odegaard before him, set up Jesus from the bench. The England winger teed up the Brazilian in the box and it was another quick turn from the front before he finished into the far corner – although there was a hint of a firm offside from the striker with no VAR in play.
Eight minutes later, Jesus had his third as he broke free from the north Londoners – finding that far corner again to claim the match ball.
Arsenal thought they were home and dry until Eddie Nketiah – released by the Gunners in the summer – headed home to set up a nervy finish. But the Gunners did enough to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for the second time in three seasons.
More to come.