Gabriels brings joyful news for Arsenal in the rout of the pitiful Crystal Palace | first division

This was almost the perfect way for Mikel Arteta to celebrate five years as Arsenal manager. Two more goals from Gabriel Jesus, his first in the Premier League since January, followed his winning performance against the same opponents from a few days ago as Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and substitute Declan Rice scored his first league goal of the season. rounded off another victory over Crystal Palace.

Just seeing Bukayo Saka limp off during the first half with a suspected hamstring injury could dampen the enthusiasm of the traveling fans, whose team are now just three points behind leaders Liverpool, even though they have played two more games. But with Manchester City six points behind Arsenal and almost a speck of dust in his rear-view mirror, Arteta will know they have never had a better chance of going all the way after clinically dispatching Oliver Glasner's side.

Arteta said that Jesus “deserves to play” after his Carabao Cup hat-trick heroics during the week and it only took him six minutes to restore his coach's confidence. While Arteta made seven changes as Havertz moved into a midfield role, Glasner decided to make alterations to his defense after they were outplayed in the second half of Wednesday's quarter-final defeat, with Trevoh Chalobah dropped in favor of Chris Richards, the first time in 12 games that Palace have changed their back three. But the home defense was all over the place when Saka whipped in a cross from the right and Tyrick Mitchell was unable to prevent Jesus from striking from close range as the ball fell kindly to his feet.

Mitchell made amends when his pass set up Ismaïla Sarr for the equaliser, although it was more the Senegalese striker's fault as he left Thomas Partey in the dust and unleashed a sumptuous shot past David Raya to follow up his two goals against Brighton at the weekend. past. However, Arsenal players wear black armbands in honor of their former player George Eastham, whose death was announced on SaturdayThe visitors soon took the lead again.

Palace had received praise for the way they dealt with Arsenal's set-piece threat in midweek. But Nathaniel Clyne was caught napping during a corner at the back post, allowing Partey to set up Jesus, and Dean Henderson's shot beyond was foolproof. A rare error by William Saliba should have resulted in a second equalizer for Palace, but Raya somehow deflected Jean-Philippe Mateta's shot from close range.

There was more than a few frowns on the bench as Saka stopped clutching his hamstring and eventually had to be replaced by Leandro Trossard after receiving treatment. Only the fast pace of Maxence Lacroix prevented Jesus from completing another hat-trick after the Frenchman gifted him the ball, with Gabriel's header from the resulting corner hitting the crossbar. Palace's relief was only temporary, however, as Jesús headed Martinelli's cross against a post and Havertz took advantage of a sleepy Mitchell having played on his side.

It could have been even worse for Palace had Martinelli's shot not been saved by Henderson just before the break. No wonder Glasner didn't look happy at all as he trudged through the tunnel.

Arteta returned late to the dugout for the second half and almost missed Saliba who gave the ball away, before Sarr's header forced Raya to make a save. With former Palace forwards Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha watching from the stands, Sarr was proving to be a real problem for Arsenal's central defenders, but was again thwarted by Raya as he followed up Mateta's shot.

The Arsenal manager responded by introducing Rice and Riccardo Calafiori and, as he had done on Wednesday, his substitutions had an instant impact. There was a suspicion of offside against Jesus when he was intercepted by a Trossard cross, but Martinelli was on hand to stab Rice's shot on the rebound to crush any hopes that the home fans might have had a comeback.

Daichi Kamada had started in place of the injured Eberechi Eze but was unable to assert himself in the process, and looked unimpressed as he made way for Eddie Nketiah, who made a scoring impact off the bench against his former club in midweek. This time it was Rice who finished off the scoring when he finished off a pass from Calafiori to confirm Arsenal's dominance.