Re-charged and re-energised . . . Arsenal reignite title challenge
But clouds of gloom hang over feeble Palace after five-goal rout
ARSENAL have spent the best part of the last month waiting to exhale. After slipping down the table from the summit, after being accused of choking again, this comfortable, cantering victory over Crystal Palace felt like a long sigh of relief.
For all their recent travails, a 5-0 trouncing of an ordinary Palace side, for whom Eberechi Eze shone like a beacon in the gloom, reassured their fretful fans and lifted Mikel Arteta’s team to third in the Premier League, level with Manchester City and just two points behind leaders Liverpool.
Arteta had said that his players had ‘recharged and re-energised’ on their winter break to Dubai and it showed. They were not at their fluent best but they showed more than enough elan and determination and cohesion to suggest they are ready to reignite their title challenge.
Two late goals from substitute Gabriel Martinelli gilded a straightforward triumph and set Arsenal up to attack the second half of the season. Many still feel that they will be the closest challengers to City as Pep Guardiola’s side try to become the first team ever to win four English league titles in a row.
The margin of their victory may quieten calls for Arsenal to sign a top-line striker like Brentford’s Ivan Toney before the end of the January transfer window but until Martinelli’s late flourish, Arsenal’s advantage had been built on set-piece dominance and Gabriel’s mastery in the air.
The result left clouds gathering over Crystal Palace, who are only five points clear of the bottom three. Palace fans held aloft a banner that criticised their team on and off the pitch and, implicitly, their manager Roy Hodgson.
Just before the final whistle, the television cameras cut to club chairman Steve Parish and his friend and adviser, Mark Bright, sitting in the directors’ box, looking distinctly worried. Hodgson is aware of supporter disquiet.
‘The manager always takes responsibility,’ he said after the game. ‘It makes me feel sad and disappointed of course because I think we are doing the best job we can do. But I am a manager of a football club that is not in a good position at the moment. Everything that happens to managers in that position will happen to me.’
Arsenal had started with verve and brio, chasing, harrying, probing, zipping the ball around in midfield. Palace sat deep and tried to soak up the pressure. For the first 10 minutes, they could barely get out of their own half. In the 11th minute, Arsenal scored.
Arsenal won a corner when a superb ball from Oleksandr Zinchenko put the Palace defence under pressure. Declan Rice swung it in from the right and it was met by a prodigious leap from Gabriel, who rose above Chris Richards and powered his header down and beyond Dean Henderson into the net.
Arsenal nearly went further ahead from another corner a minute later. This time, the ball was flicked on at the near post and bounced off the head of Jefferson Lerma, who inadvertently directed it towards goal. Henderson scrambled to his right and the ball bounced off the bar and fell into his arms.
Arsenal’s energy dipped midway through the half and Palace finally got a foothold in the game. David Raya nearly presented them with an equaliser after half an hour when he shanked a clearance straight to Jefferson Lerma. Lerma smashed it back at goal and Raya redeemed himself, hurling himself to his right and pushing the ball around the post.
Arsenal took their cue from that escape and renewed their dominance. They won yet another corner and when Bukayo Saka curled it deep to the back post, Henderson was hemmed in on the line by Ben White. The ball sailed over his head, Gabriel met it and it bounced off Henderson’s prone form and into the net. The goal came at just the right time for Arsenal, who had started to fade. Henderson claimed he was fouled by White but he simply didn’t do enough to get the defender out of his way. VAR checked the goal and there was no reason to disallow it.
Eze existed as an island of guile and invention amid his team’s struggles and he brought a diving save out of Raya early in the second half with a shot from 25 yards.
Arsenal should have put the game out of reach when Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus combined to set up Leandro Trossard, but Trossard miskicked 10 yards out with the goal at his mercy.
Arsenal kept pressing. They claimed a penalty when Jesus hurled himself to the ground amid a goalmouth scramble. A VAR check suggested it was an outrageous dive. If VAR can be used to award penalties in situations like that, maybe it should also penalise such blatant dissembling.
Jesus got his reward by fair means after an hour. Arsenal broke swiftly from a corner and the Brazilian sprinted clear on the right. He bent a fine pass into the penalty area for Trossard to run on to, Trossard cut inside and sat Nathaniel Clyne down on his backside before smashing the ball past Henderson.
Arsenal maintained their dominance for the rest of the half. The only surprise was that they did not add to their total until deep into added time, when Eddie Nketiah played a clever through-ball to fellow substitute Martinelli, who slid his shot past Henderson and inside the far post.
A minute later, Martinelli repeated the trick. Same position, same finish. This time, it was Jorginho’s through-ball but the result was the same. Henderson did not have a chance and the ball found its favourite spot, just inside the far post.
When the final whistle went, the applause signalled that outpouring of relief. On the touchline, Hodgson hung his head in disappointment and dismay. If Arsenal have recharged, Palace look like a team whose belief is ebbing away.
ARSENAL (4-3-3): Raya 7; White 7.5, Saliba 7.5, Gabriel 9 (Kiwior 81min), Zinchenko 8; Odegaard 6, Rice 7 (Jorginho 73, 6.5), Havertz 6 (Smith Rowe 69, 6.5); Saka 6, Jesus 7 (Nketiah 81), Trossard 7 (Martinelli 69, 8). Booked: None.
CRYSTAL PALACE (3-4-3): Henderson 5; Richards 5, Andersen 5, Guehi 5.5 (Tomkins 87); Clyne 5 (Ahamada 76), Lerma 6.5, Hughes 5 (Ozoh 68, 5.5), Mitchell 6.5; Schlupp 5.5 (Franca 76), Mateta 6, Eze 5.5. Booked: None. Subs (not used): Johnstone, Edouard, Ebiowei, Riedewald, Adaramola.
Referee: P Tierney (Lancashire) 6.5.