I've waited to write this piece until we had some idea of the extent of the injury suffered by Starboy on Saturday. We need, of course, to think about the implications of that; but there is plenty to discuss from the Palace game even without that. I'd also like you to join me in having a damn good laugh at both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who are both having a terrible time at the moment. Oh, and I almost forgot the continuing woes of Manchester City. But I digress...
Interesting team news from Selhurst Park, with a clear indication that Arteta had taken the handbrake off for this one. It was inevitable that Jesus would start after his midweek hat-trick against the same opposition, as the Manager accommodated Havertz in the side by taking one defensive-minded midfielder out of the side. So, with Rice deemed not fit enough to start, it was Partey at the base of midfield and a dynamic front 5 of Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Jesus and Martinelli ahead of him. An interesting selection, and one that will be occupying Arteta's mind going forward.
Yes, there was an extra zip up front as Arsenal - as usual - dominated possession; this time moving the ball more swiftly and thus putting real pressure on the Palace back line. But when they lost the ball... suddenly, a soft underbelly was clear for all to see. Partey isn't the most mobile of players, as we know, and he was exposed on several occasions as the likes of Saar ran beyond him and directly at Saliba and Gabriel. It was also interesting to note how less assured the central defenders looked without a shield in front of them.
They sat a little deeper. Saliba made a wrong decision not to engage Saar that led directly to Palace's equaliser and also lost the ball to Saar in an extremely dangerous position, with only a superb point blank save from Raya preventing a second Palace goal. Gabriel was then booked for pulling Saar's shirt - the Senegalese was causing an awful lot of problems to Arsenal.
At the other end, Arsenal scored no less than three times before half-time. Goal Machine Gabriel Jesus with two - one an absolute beauty curled right into the top corner of the net from the edge of the area following a corner - and a third from Havertz, who couldn't miss as he followed up a Jesus header that rebounded off of a post.
Gabriel also hit the bar with a header from - guess what - a corner. It doesn't seem to matter what the opposition do to defend corners - Palace, like Monaco before them, left three players up - Nicolas Jover seems to have an answer.
But here's the dilemma for Arteta. Does he sacrifice an element of control by player an extra attacker, or does he revert to a more cautious system with a second more defensive midfielder in the side. It's a delicate balance, and one that should surely be based on the opposition's ability to threaten. Arsenal are always likely to dominate and outscore the likes of Palace, but I certainly wouldn't want to see it against the likes of Brighton, let alone Liverpool. It's a difficult one.
So 3-1 to Arsenal at half time. But despite the entertainment the most significant moment had occurred as early as the 23rd minute, when Saka sat himself down following a run and cross, and signalled that he needed to come off. He limped off extremely slowly - much to the annoyance of Palace (Lacroix ran across to remonstrate) - but it's clearly serious as he left the ground on crutches, and initial suggestions are that we may not see him again until March. That is very bad news indeed, and he'll miss some really important matches.
There's no point in dwelling on whether Arteta has 'over-played' Starboy - he does seem to feature all the time, though. What's more important is how the Manager adjusts the line-up to compensate. With Sterling likely to miss his moment due to his own injury (he'd hardly excelled himself in midweek to be fair), the alternatives are not obvious. Perhaps Arteta will take a leaf out of Arsene Wenger's book and play a promising young player slightly out of position in order to give him an appreciation of what that role means (I vividly remember him doing that with Aaron Ramsey). In this case, I'm talking about Ethan Nwaneri. The alternatives would be Martinelli, Trossard, Havertz or Jesus out there. We shall see. We know that Arteta likes his wingers to cut inside and get involved with their number 8s; of the afore-mentioned foursome only Havertz is left-footed. But so is Nwaneri. This will be fascinating.
Palace continued to cause problems early in the second half, and could have pulled back to parity as Raya kept them at bay with two fine saves. Both centre backs were curiously both under par at the same time (it's the loss of a shield ahead of them, I'm sure - and that'll concern Arteta). and it took a fourth goal to finally take the wind out of their sails. By which time Arteta had reacted by bringing Rice (and the returning Califiori) on - and whilst Dec was on to give more solidity to the midfield the space he was able to find pushing forward in the left 8 role led to an assist for Martinelli (Jesus missed a sitter seconds before, thus denying one of my mates a decent pick-up at the bookies on his 70/1 bet for the Brazilian to notch a second successive hat trick), and then a goal of his own to make it 5 - curling the ball into the far corner as he ran on to Califiori's neat pass. But as Palace coach Glasner said afterwards: 'Give Arsenal a crumb and they take the whole cake!'
So 5-1; and thank you very much for that. But I can't let this post pass by without having another dig at the officials. In this case referee Hooper, who appeared to have his priorities all wrong throughout. He warned Raya about time-wasting at a goal kick as early as the 19th minute (which other club suffers such treatment?). He booked Timber for taking a few seconds too long at a throw in, in the 35th minute (again, find me an instance of any other club being treated like that). Lewis-Skelly tried to steal a few yards at another throw (nobody else ever does that, do they?) - and Hooper chose to award the throw the other way by means of punishment. But when Clyne went through Califiori from behind, with undue force and virtually standing on his ankle, it was merely a yellow card - the same punishment meted out to Timber for delaying a throw in. The officious little pr*ck!
Anyway, on to happier things. City lost at Villa - that's now just one win in their past 11 matches. They've lost their aura, and are having no luck whatsoever. About time... United contrived - having lost 4-3 at Tottenham in the League Cup - to go down 3-0 at home to Bournemouth. New Manager bounce? They're languishing in 13th place in the table.
And as for Tottenham! Look, we all wanted them to do us a favour against Liverpool, but one thing you can rely on is not being able to rely on Tottenham (I still wake up some nights sweating at the memory of Son's miss against City last season). Decimated by injuries, it was always unlikely that they were going to get anything from the game; but in managing to concede no less than 6 goals - and it could easily have been more - well, you just have to laugh. They have forwards who don't work hard out of possession, a weak defensive midfield with Bissouma a total liability, and had three of their 4 defenders playing out of position. And have no discernible tactics... interestingly, though, they did score three times; thus giving hope that Liverpool will leak goals at inopportune moments as the season goes on. But as an early Christmas gift you can't beat watching Spurs getting battered. #AngeIn
The gap to Chelsea was closed as they - like Arsenal - only managed a goalless draw with Everton (now there's a team that's fun to watch...). And so we move on to a home game with Ipswich Town (which ought to be routine) and then two tricky away ties - at Brentford and Brighton. Without Saka. Not insurmountable, but the margin for error gets smaller with every passing match day. One thing looks pretty sure; Arsenal are going to have to go to Anfield and beat Liverpool.
Anyway, we move on 'with hope in our hearts'. I'd like to wish those who celebrate either a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah, and I'll see you on the other side. Somebody nonetheless needs to have a quick chat with Gabriel Jesus - his timing may seem off as he's resurrected himself for the wrong festival... If we stick to 'reborn', then he's OK.
COYG!
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