Gabriel Jesus was the scourge of Crystal Palace for the second time in four days as his early brace paved the way for a comfortable Arsenal victory at Selhurst Park.
Jesus scored a hat-trick when the two sides met in midweek, Arsenal winning the EFL Cup quarter-final 3-2 at the Emirates, and he scored two goals in the first 14 minutes here with the Gunners only three points ahead Leaders Liverpool have caught up. The Merseysiders still have two games left.
Ismaila Sarr canceled out Jesus’ opener, but the former Manchester City player quickly scored again and further goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice ensured a comfortable win.
Arsenal records their biggest win of the season! 👊🔴#CRYARS | #FestiveFixtures pic.twitter.com/b2KrMokxJg
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 21, 2024
The only negative on a night full of positives for Mikel Arteta was a first-half injury to Bukayo Saka, which could limit his availability over the holidays.
Jesus hadn’t scored a goal in the league since January, but he was undoubtedly full of confidence after his exploits on Wednesday night and opened the scoring after six minutes.
Saka’s cross from the right was not cleared and it fell to Jesus at the far post, who reacted well and fired with his right foot under goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Palace equalized after 11 minutes with a nice back-to-back swing.
Tyrick Mitchell led the attack, pushing the ball to Sarr and taking advantage of William Saliba’s poor defending to run unhindered into the box and fire a beautiful shot over the left hand of David Raya.
However, Palace only managed to equalize for three minutes when Arsenal scored again from a corner.
An attack down the left wing was not cleared and after Thomas Partey showed great composure in bringing the ball to the ground and spotting Jesus lurking just inside the penalty area, the Brazil international calmly slotted into the top right corner.
Gabriel Jesus LOVES scoring against Crystal Palace 🤯
Five goals in one week against the Eagles 💥 pic.twitter.com/Y7mDDmj7nG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 21, 2024
The game showed no signs of slowing down and Palace should have equalized again after 20 minutes after some more sloppy play from Saliba.
The France international was taken out of action by Sarr and sent on Jean-Philippe Mateta, but Raya was quickly out to block the shot.
Saka limped off the pitch after 24 minutes, which may have been worrying for Arteta but did not disrupt his side’s attacking flow.
Jesus was denied by a great tackle from Maxence Lacroix and from the resulting corner Gabriel shot a header against the crossbar. The danger had not yet passed for the home side and after Arsenal retained possession, Jesus headed Martinelli’s cross from the right onto the left post, but Havertz was there to direct the ball over the line.
Gabriel Jesus denied a hat trick by post 👀
Kai Havertz gets the rebound 🙌 pic.twitter.com/jtpQlpAZOa
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 21, 2024
Palace came into action after the break and only two moments of good goalkeeping from Raya prevented them from halving the deficit. First he did well to keep out Sarr’s header and then he made a brilliant double save to deny Mateta from distance and Sarr’s somewhat tame follow-up shot.
After bringing Rice and Riccardo Calafiori off the bench, Arsenal secured the points after the hour.
Rice’s first touch was to fire a shot on goal after Jesus again failed at Henderson’s feet and Martinelli was there to save the hat-trick.
England midfielder Rice got himself on the scoresheet with six minutes remaining when he guided his shot past Henderson into the bottom right corner.
It was a clear win for Arsenal, who host struggling Ipswich on Friday.
