Crystal Palace 1-5 Arsenal: Raya manages key moments as Gabriels get goals

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

For the sixth time in 2024, Arsenal scored five goals away from home, thumping Crystal Palace last night. It was a game I think we deserved to win, but the scoreline doesn’t really tell the full story.

It began very well, with an early goal from Gabriel Jesus. A Bukayo Saka cross from the right came to him at the back post, Gabriel Magalhaes played the part of blocker, and his compatriot slotted home at the near post to put us 1-0 up in the 6th minute. But Palace were causing us problems. Jean-Philippe Mateta gave William Saliba plenty to think about, and not long after a poor David Raya pass caused us problems, the home side were level.

It was a nicely worked goal, but it felt a bit too easy for Imsaila Sarr to run straight through our midfield, and I don’t think Saliba did enough defensively. The finish was nice, and the timing of it – just five minutes after we’d gone ahead – gave Palace encouragement. The quickfire nature of the opening stages was evident when we went ahead again in the 15th minute. Again it was Jesus, a really excellent finish after Thomas Partey laid the ball off smartly from a Gabriel Martinelli corner.

It’s amazing what confidence can do for a player. It’s impossible to say if without the other goals he’d have taken that chance first time with such aplomb, but it really felt like the kind of goal that an in-form player scores. It’s perhaps a bit too early to refer to Jesus’s last game and a half as ‘form’ per se, but in comparison to what we’ve seen from him of late, it was night and day … and great to see.

A mistake from Saliba handed Palace another chance to equalise, but Mateta’s touch before the shot wasn’t great and Raya made a good save. Then we lost Bukayo Saka to injury, he felt his hamstring and had to come off, so despite the lead it felt precarious. We brought Leandro Trossard on and switched Martinelli to the right where I think he had a really effective game. He was involved in the third goal, providing a cross which Jesus headed onto the post with the keeper rooted to the spot, but Kai Havertz was alert, and his smart movement gave him the easiest tap-in he’ll get all season.

Palace continued to have chances. Just before the break Lerma headed straight at Raya when I think he should have tested the keeper a lot more than he did, and very early in the second half, Sarr’s header from close range was well saved by the Spaniard. Not long after, a Mateta shot from distance forced Raya into making a save again, and not for the first time this season he had to make a double save as Sarr followed up. Had one of those gone in so soon after half-time, I think the energy would have obviously been a lot different around Selhurst Park.

Again, we remained too open through the centre but Mikel Arteta rectified that with the introduction of Declan Rice for Havertz, while Riccardo Calafiori came on for the impressive again Myles Lewis-Skelly. It made a difference, and on the hour mark the game was made safe when Martinelli poked home from close range for 4-1. The chance came after a fantastic pass from Gabriel to Trossard made a chance for Jesus to score what would have been his second hat-trick in a week, but Henderson saved with his legs. In the resulting chaos, it was a Rice shot which Martinelli prodded home, and the midfielder got in on the goalscoring action late on, finishing really well after a Calafiori pass found him just inside the Palace box.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, as Raya’s importance demonstrated, but it was good to see Arsenal more clinical in front of goal. I also think it was a nice reminder that this team can score goals. Some of the coverage after Fulham and Everton was a bit overblown for me. Was it hugely frustrating? Of course, and while we all want a bit more, there is firepower in the team – even without Saka for most of it yesterday.

The sight of him leaving on crutches was not great, let’s be honest. It was an inauspicious way for his 250th Arsenal appearance to play out, but hopefully it’s just an abundance of caution. It does look as if he’s going to miss a few games though, this was the same hamstring he had a problem with earlier in the season, and given the schedule the timing is far from ideal. His injury was compounded by the loss of Raheem Sterling who picked up a problem in training this week, and if either or both are more serious than we think, it will probably increase the pressure – or the need – to be active in the January market.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was pleased with his team’s work, but acknowledged the importance of his goalkeeper in the result, saying:

We were clinical today, because in many things we were better than the other game, but this is football. We were so clinical today, we were so good at scoring different ways, in different phases like we want to do, and we didn’t concede more as well because David made two incredible saves.

I’m very happy that we won, we needed that win, especially after the two draws but in general, looking at the 10 games, no defeats in the last seven. We’ve won five and gotten two draws, and we’ve deserved to win all of them so it’s good.

With a few days ‘off’ now, it was an important result against a team that have been in decent form of late. The fact that Jesus has five goals in a week is a development not too many saw coming, but it’s very welcome – especially if we’ve got a couple more injuries to contend with. For a forward to go through the kind of barren spell he has endured, it must really be a weight every time you step onto the pitch, so hopefully this week can spark him back into consistent life. We’re going to need him.

What else? The ref worried me a bit at times. When have you ever seen a goalkeeper get a warning for ‘time-wasting’ in the 18th minute before? Perhaps I’m scarred by other decisions this season, but it felt like he was laying the groundwork for another Arsenal red card for something trivial. When he booked Timber for taking too long over a throw-in (he was 100% influenced by the home fans there), I really started to worry, but we didn’t give him another chance to go to his pocket.

I also thought the late challenge on Calafiori was a potential red card, but as we know PGMOL have decided violent conduct is not something they concern themselves with when they can send players off for tapping the ball a couple inches while some hoofer boots them from behind. There was another shocking challenge in the Brighton/West Ham game yesterday that was only a yellow, and I’m tired repeating myself on this – but when someone gets badly hurt, PGMOL won’t accept any responsibility for their part in creating a culture where some players feel emboldened to go in too hard. Then they’ll use their chums in the media to gaslight us over trivialities nobody cares about.

Anyway, I’ll get down off my soapbox now. Arsenal won and won well, and that gives us a nice few days before we host Ipswich on the 27th before the madness of the January schedule kicks in soon after. For now though, we can relax and enjoy the win.

We’re gonna have an Arsecast Extra for you in a little while too. We’ve put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod should be out around noon. For now, have a good one.

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