Gabriel Jesus as soon as once more stole the present in opposition to Crystal Palace as Arsenal received again on monitor within the Premier League with a 5-1 rout at Selhurst Park.
Having plundered a hat-trick in opposition to Palace in a 3-2 victory for the Gunners within the EFL Cup on Wednesday, Jesus was on prime kind once more on Saturday with a first-half double.
Jesus opened the scoring within the sixth minute and put Arsenal again forward after Ismaila Sarr had restored parity, earlier than the striker’s header off the publish arrange Kai Havertz to make it 3-1 to the Gunners.
Arsenal needed to depend on some sharp goalkeeping from David Raya, who saved properly from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Sarr, earlier than Gabriel Martinelli made issues much more snug.
Martinelli turned house from Declan Rice’s shot on the hour, simply after Jesus had squandered a golden likelihood for an additional hat-trick.
Rice capped a wonderful cameo with a surprising strike late on, as Arsenal cruised into third, three factors behind leaders Liverpool, albeit having performed two matches greater than the Reds.
6 – Arsenal have scored 5+ targets in six completely different away video games in all competitions in 2024, essentially the most ever by an English top-flight membership in a single calendar 12 months. Ruthless. pic.twitter.com/18V19N4byf
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 21, 2024
Information Debrief: Jesus tops the Gunners’ tree
Jesus ought to have had his second hat-trick within the area of two video games, however within the build-up to Arsenal’s fourth objective, the previous Manchester Metropolis striker displayed the form of ending that had seen him go on a 23-game scoreless streak within the prime flight earlier than this encounter.
Nonetheless, his capturing boots have been firmly on within the opening quarter-hour, whereas he was unlucky that the header that led to Havertz prodding in clipped off the publish.
Jesus’ beautiful second objective got here when he whipped house from the sting of the field following a nook. Since set-piece coach Nicolas Jover joined the membership as set-piece coach in 2021, Arsenal have scored 50 Premier League targets from corners, essentially the most of any membership within the competitors on this time.
When Jesus does rating, Arsenal shouldn’t concern defeat. He has now prolonged his competitors file of by no means shedding when scoring in a Premier League recreation to 61 video games (W56 D5).
Whereas they have been pushed laborious for the primary hour, the Gunners completed off as dominant and deserved victors, registering 2.9 anticipated targets to Palace’s 1.7 within the course of.
