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Photo from Freepik.
Morning all.
I know Christmas Day is just around the corner but for Arsenal, the gift of giving was on show at Selhurst Park yesterday evening. A number of mistakes were made by our two centre backs and keeper, the only surprise being that Palace didn’t take advantage.
Unsurprisingly, Mikel Arteta gave Gabriel Jesus a second start in a row after his heroics on Wednesday made sure we booked a place in the League Cup semifinal. Six minutes after kickoff, our No9 hit the back of the net once more. Bukayo Saka provided the cross which ended up in space, space which Jesus was about to fill. Gabriel was smart as he shielded the ball from the defenders as Jesus blasted the ball home.
Five minutes later, the scores were level. Sarr picked up the ball in midfield, Arsenal let him run and then he shot. And scored. So we had to go again and funny enough, that’s exactly what we did and yes, it was our No9 who was at it again. A corner, a loose ball, a stunning Jesus strike. Palace had a couple of good chances to equalise again, one when William Saliba was caught in possession just outside the our box but Raya spared his blushes with a big save off a Mateta shot.
Bukay Saka was down, then he was out of the game with what looked like a hamstring injury. On came Leandro Trossard with Martinelli switching to the right. Jesus looked like he might add a third goal to his tally but Lacroix had other ideas. Gabriel then crashed a header onto the bar just before we scored again. Martinelli was clever down the right, beating Mitchell before cutting a cross back into the box. Jesus got his head to it but hit the bar but the rebound fell at the feet of Kai Havertz who had the easiest of finishes. 3-1 felt a lot more comfortable but Palace weren’t ready to give up.
After the break, Raya pulled off another couple of good saves to preserve our two goal lead. The first from a Sarr header then a double save from Mateta and Sarr. Arteta made a couple of changes with Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori coming on for Havertz and Lewis-Skelly.
Then came our 4th goal. A super ball over the midfield to Trossard from Gabriel started the move. The Belgian crossed for Jesus to shoot but his shot was straight at Henderson. Rice picked up the stray ball before setting up Martinelli. Tidy! Rice himself finished the scoring off with a lovely curling strike from the edge of the box which flew past Henderson.
If ever there was a sign that our luck might be changing it was yesterday. We made a number of defensive cockups which on another day, might have been punished. The amount of time our players take on a throw-in is ridiculous and we’re lucky not to have more players booked than we did. Raya time wasting before we’d even got to half-time was something I really don’t enjoy seeing. Thankfully, the bookings slate wipes clean at the end of the year.
In the end, the result was fantastic against a strong Crystal Palace side who’d been on good run of form.
The downside was the injury Bukayo Saka picked up. As said, it looked like a hamstring problem which if it is, let’s hope it’s not a bad one but he left the ground on crutches apparently.
We have a six day break now before playing Ipswich on the 27th, our final fixture of the year which is against Ipswich.
Catch up in the comments.