Arsenal players have grown use to hiding in the considerable shadow of Bukayo Saka but his injury forced the shirkers to emerge against Crystal Palace.
There cannot be many players more beloved at Arsenal despite never representing them than Ismaila Sarr. The protector of The Invincibles amassed a career’s worth of Emirates-based goodwill almost half a decade ago and has surely never had to purchase his own liquid-based sustenance in north London since.
That theory was tested briefly at Selhurst Park when the Gunners returned the midweek favour to Crystal Palace and paid them a visit on Saturday evening. But the open-play goal crisis was averted and Sarr’s brief insurrection was forgiven.
His well-taken equaliser threatened a difficult game and despite the wildly comfortable nature of the scoreline, this was not a straightforward Arsenal victory. Palace had more shots and David Raya was required to make a handful of fine saves.
But Arsenal maximised their opportunities in a way Palace summarily failed to. Gabriel Jesus punished two uncleared crosses to the fullest in the opening stages while Jean-Philippe Mateta could not beat Raya one-on-one after being played in by Sarr. Kai Havertz’s movement allowed him to pounce when a Jesus header hit the post, yet Sarr’s follow-up from a saved Mateta shot was tame. The hosts quite foolishly didn’t have any £105m midfielders to bring off the bench to grab a goal and an assist. That really does feel like a significant oversight.
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The cutaways to Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise in a matter of first-half minutes won’t have helped. What players they are, by the way.
It does not take a particularly vivid imagination to see how either or both would have transformed this game, giving Palace more potency on the counter and confidence in possession. Palace are an obviously good team but there is a slight lack of dimension in their attack beyond Sarr and Mateta.
The same could have been said of Arsenal outside of corners and free-kicks recently but this margin of victory is far from unprecedented. They put five past both Sporting and West Ham in consecutive games last month and are the first team in English top-flight history to score five or more goals in six different away games in a calendar year.
There is every reason to believe Arteta won’t have enjoyed a great deal of this game, but equally plenty of evidence that surrendering a semblance of control in favour of more dynamism, risk-taking and directness in attack should be a serious consideration moving forward. Arsenal were looser on the ball yet far more clinical than in recent weeks.
An early goal always helps and the game was open from the moment Jesus opened the scoring after six minutes. Arsenal were never going to struggle in the same way they did without that breakthrough against the deep defences of Fulham and Everton.
And their response to Sarr’s goal, which itself came a minute or so after a scare with Raya passing the ball out from the back, was impressive. Jesus restored their advantage soon after, then a mild storm was weathered before Havertz gave the visitors a commanding cushion which Palace constantly suggested they might remove, but eventually only plumped up.
Whether the Jesus as centre-forward with Havertz in midfield model is sustainable in the future is unknown but Arsenal cannot suffer for a lack of variety, even more so with the injury to Bukayo Saka.
A hamstring problem ended his game midway through the first half and while concern over his fitness is inevitable, this was a necessary display of verve in his absence. Arteta will be encouraged that others who have hid in the shadows of their lynchpin on occasion stepped up individually and as a collective when he was sidelined. Saka left the stadium on crutches but his teammates came up clutch.
Jesus is taking his chance. Havertz continues to prove his worth. Gabriel Martinelli embraced the responsibility. Rice showed his leadership credentials. The set-pieces were an accompaniment rather than the entire dish itself.
Arsenal have left themselves with work to do and on a different day, Sarr might well have dismantled them in the same manner he did Liverpool in February 2020. The Reds can somehow safely exclude Manchester City from the title equation but the chief chasers of the last two seasons remain in the running.
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