Arsenal maintained their push for the Premier League title after they comfortably beat Crystal Palace 4-1 at the Emirates today.
Mikel Arteta’s side opened the scoring through Brazilian attacker Gabriel Martinelli in the 28th minute. The 21-year-old collected a pass from fellow attacker Bukayo Saka just inside the area, before Martinelli expertly beat his man and fired a left-footed shot across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner.
Tbe brilliant Saka put Arsenal two up and effectively killed the game just before half-time, the outstanding young attacker latching onto a neat pass from Ben White before clinically curling home from six yards out.
Ten minutes after half-time Granit Xhaka made it three, the Swiss midfielder bundling home after he was played through by Leandro Trossard.
In the 63rd minute, Jeffrey Schlupp poked home from a corner for managerless Palace, before the sensational Saka hammered home a Kieran Tierney pullback to finish off the scoring.
▪️ 10 goals
▪️ 10 assists.For the first time in his career, Bukayo Saka is in double figures for goals and assists in the Premier League 💫 pic.twitter.com/1iia4LTQI4
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 19, 2023
Today’s victory means Arsenal will go into the international break six points clear of reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.
Speaking afterwards the Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was delighted with how his side responded to being knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night.
“The desire and the energy that we put in right from the beginning impressed me most,” Arteta told BBC Sport.
”We were really determined and focused and left Thursday in the past. After playing 120 minutes, they have to come back here and do it again against a team with a lot of needs.
”Palace have not got the results lately but they have be very tough to beat.
”But we were dominant and deserved to win the game. Today, in the box when we had those openings, we defined the game in the right way.”
