Report: Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace

We returned to winning ways courtesy of a fine victory over Crystal Palace to move into third place in the Premier League table.

The scoring began in the 11th minute when Gabriel converted a corner kick, and then he was in the thick of the action for the second when his header went in off Eagles goalkeeper Dean Henderson for an own goal.

The points were secured after the break when Leandro Trossard marked his first anniversary at the club by finishing off a breathtaking counter-attack to put the result beyond doubt before the hour-mark, before two goals in stoppage-time from Gabriel Martinelli completed a fine afternoon’s work by Mikel Arteta’s men.

Set pieces successes

Having lost our previous three matches, the desire for three points was great going into this one, and we always looked in control of proceedings as we enjoyed the majority of possession, territory and crucially, chances.

And we would make them count in this game. We entered it having scored more headers than any other side in the division, and our aerial prowess came to the fore once again when we took the lead after 10 minutes.

Declan Rice swung over a dangerous delivery, and Gabriel slipped around Chris Richards to get a run towards the ball, and he towered over the American midfielder to head past Henderson to score his second of the campaign.

Three minutes later we nearly added a second via fortuitous circumstances when another flag kick - this time from Bukayo Saka - caused issues and Jefferson Lerma saw the ball cannon off his head and onto his own crossbar as Palace breathed a sigh of relief.

While we dictated the majority of the first half, chances were few and far between and that allowed the visitors to grow in confidence, and during a brief period of dominance for Roy Hodgson’s team, David Raya did well to fly across his goal to push a Lerma long-ranger to safety.

But our lead was strengthened on 37 minutes, and it was that man Gabriel again who did the damage from a corner. This time, Saka got the assist when his delivery found the defender at the back post, and the Brazilian managed to steer the ball goalwards which found the net off the back of Henderson’s head, with the shot-stopper credited with an own goal.

Trossard on target

Trossard then nearly netted a third right before half-time when he linked up nicely with Gabriel Jesus but saw a fierce shot just fail to hit the target, however he wouldn’t be denied 13 minutes after the restart.

A swift counter-attack was initiated when Raya caught a Will Hughes cross and bowled the ball out to Jesus in acres of space. He galloped forward and picked the perfect time to square to the Belgian, who showed great composure to sit Nathaniel Clyne down before blasting past a helpless Henderson to seal our fourth successive win over the Eagles with 30 minutes still to play.

With the result beyond doubt, the remainder of the game was played in third gear and the chances dried up. Raya did well again to push over a powerful Eberechi Eze free-kick from just outside the box, and Saka shot over when well placed.

Martinelli brace

However there was a final flourish in injury time when we made the scoreline much more emphatic. Firstly, Saka caught Eze in possession and we sprang another fast break, which saw Eddie Nketiah find Martinelli who coolly slotted past Henderson.

Then 102 seconds later, the winger was sent through on goal again courtesy of a delicious pass over the top by Jorginho and found the same corner of the net to put the icing on a well-deserved, and much-needed, victory.

Facts and stats

Today’s win was our joint-biggest margin of victory in a Premier League London derby, alongside our 5-0 win against Wimbledon back in April 1998.

Since the start of 2020/21, Gabriel has scored 12 Premier League goals, at least three more than any other defender during this period.

We have scored the most headed goals (10) and the most goals from corners (10) in the Premier League this season. We’ve also kept the most clean sheets in the competition this term (8).

Roy Hodgson has failed to win any of his six Premier League encounters with Mikel Arteta (D2 L4) – the only opposing manager he’s faced more often in the competition without ever beating is Jürgen Klopp (P9 L9).

Gabriel Martinelli's first goal was the 200th scored by a substitute for us in the Premier League (now 201) - we're just the third side to hit this milestone after Man Utd (215) and Chelsea (206).

We have won each of our last four Premier League games against Palace, having won just one of our previous eight against the Eagles in the competition before this run (D5 L2).

Palace have won just one of their last 18 away London derbies in the Premier League and are winless in nine (D4 L5) since a 2-1 win at West Ham in November 2022.

Leandro Trossard has been directly involved in 11 goals in 14 starts for us in all competitions at the Emirates, scoring four goals and providing seven assists.

What's next

We have a 10-day gap between games now before we travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, January 30, and then later that week we're back at Emirates Stadium when we face Liverpool once again on Sunday, February 4.