Arsenal may still be looking to unlock the scoring potential of Gabriel Jesus, but they were perfectly content with the game-breaking contribution from their namesake. Gabriel Magalhães had two headers in the first half, the second of which was converted by Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, exposing defensive weaknesses in the corners and ensuring Mikel Arteta's side never lose. It was a timely reminder that this was not the case.
Two stoppage-time goals from Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli after the interval put things under control, and although a miserable Palace existed only physically, they survived with a level of comfort that rivaled many of their early season performances. . Palace have given the underdog Roy Hodgson little indication as to whether they can get a result here, and the sight of Graham Potter watching from the stands will no doubt generate some interest in the calls for a manager change. It might have spurred me on.
Before kick-off, Arteta said the break in Dubai had left him feeling “recharged and reinvigorated” after his recent stuttering. It took little time for them to show that and Palace must have been hoping their five-man defense could hold out a little longer, but they were broken in rudimentary fashion. Arsenal started sharp enough and had their first chance to squeeze into the box when the returning Jesus pounced over from an angle and Trossard won a corner kick from Nathaniel Clyne.
Declan Rice's set-piece hung in the air, inviting a blatant dogfight. In the end, there was no such competition. Gabriel was the only player who tensed every muscle in his body to reach the ball. He completely beat the absent Chris Richards, rising high and firing a header into the bottom left corner of Henderson.
Midway through the first half, Gabriel headed first to another corner, this time deftly chipped by Bukayo Saka, but finished mean. Arsenal had twice come close to scoring an own goal against Palace. The first time was when Jefferson Lerma's rebound skimmed the wooden frame, and the second time when Richards stepped in to reach Jesus from Saka's center and went wide. Had either of the anomalies led to a second goal, the result would have already been beyond doubt.
Instead, Arsenal drifted away like a spell. Palace posed little threat apart from a dash from Jean-Philippe Mateta, but Ebelesi Eze won a dangerous free-kick that he hit against the wall just after the half-hour mark. Klein's cross shot from the spilled ball narrowly avoided Mateta. Then, with Arsenal still not on the pitch, David Raya cleared straight to Lerma, but needed a smart readjustment to tilt the resulting 25-yard drive wide at full stretch.
Despite this, there was no real sense of crisis. Every time Arsenal went up a gear it was clearly too much and almost as if they were starting to move, they immediately scored again. Martin Odegaard's backheel sent Saka flying to the byline, but the angle was too tight for him to cross. Corner number two was accepted with a great in-swing delivery from Gabriel who rounded behind and again made mincemeat of Richards, heading in via Henderson's body. It became an own goal. Palace's complaint that the keeper had been blocked by Ben White drew no sympathy from VAR.
Had Trossard scored the third goal before half-time instead of shooting wide, nothing could have been predicted. In reality, Arsenal weren't doing their best to build up a two-goal advantage.
The fact that Palace's away support welcomed spells of possession Ores Early in the second period, Hodgson spoke of the dark clouds hanging over his team. In fact, they might have scored when Eze forced a save from distance after taking an early shot in an attempt to deceive Raya. It had much the same effect as Lerma's earlier volley. Arsenal beat their opponents head on and after some fine play from Kai Havertz, Jesus converted a chance that Trossard made a terrible mistake.
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The Belgian made no mistake from an almost identical situation just before the hour mark. Palace, who had shown more attacking intent, wasted a corner kick and Raya could have broken for Will Hughes' aimless ball. Raya quickly let go of Jesus, who had recently failed miserably to win a penalty, and watched him kick down the right. He located Trossard again, this time checking inside the unbalanced Klein and powerfully passing Henderson.
Eze forced Raya to take another free-kick, but Palace took the lead. Palace were too slow to act proactively. Arteta tried to maintain Arsenal's momentum by making two changes, adding Emile Smith Rowe, who is on loan from West Ham, to Martinelli. Richards' interception was the only one denying Smith Rowe any chance of getting his season back on track, but his fellow substitute added to the spark with two identical low finishes past Henderson in stoppage time. did.
