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Arsenal Defeats Crystal Palace To Move Eight Points, Thanks To Bukayo Saka

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Arsenal Defeats Crystal Palace To Move Eight Points, Thanks To Bukayo Saka

As Arsenal easily defeated managerless Crystal Palace to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points, Bukayo Saka once again shone.

Mikel Arteta’s team made the most of the fact that closest rivals Manchester City were engaged in FA Cup competition by defeating their London rivals 4-1 and recovering from their Europa League elimination at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.

Saka became the first player in the Premier League this season to achieve double digits in both goals and assists when he scored two and assisted Gabriel Martinelli on his opening goal.

Granit Xhaka extended his stellar season by scoring the third goal after the break, four years after he cursed at his supporters when he was substituted in this match.

Palace, who fired former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira on Friday, at least managed to score thanks to Jeffrey Schlupp’s consolation goal in the second half under interim manager Paddy McCarthy.

The hosts were without Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba due to injuries, thus Ben White and Rob Holding were inserted into defense.

Palace was inches away from grabbing the lead as a deflected Wilfried Zaha drive rebounded back off a post, the ball striking goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale on the back before slithering wide.

First on goal for Arsenal was Martin Odegaard, whose shot was blocked by Joseph Whitworth, a 19-year-old Eagles player making just his second senior outing.

Despite a sluggish start, Martinelli—the player whose saved penalty cost Arsenal in their shootout loss to Sporting—would give the league leaders the lead.

White snuck in front of Zaha and played in Saka, whose cross was controlled and skillfully finished by Martinelli. Zaha was caught ball-watching.

The trio of White, Saka, and Odegaard was giving Palace all kinds of difficulties on the right, putting the hosts well in control. When Arsenal tried for a second goal before halftime, Thomas Partey headed a free kick wide and Odegaard fired another shot just wide of the post.

Saka would score the goal after receiving a deft ball from White and scoring past Whitworth while onside, according to a VAR review.

Then, as Arsenal began the second half in the same commanding fashion as they concluded the first, Saka saw an attempt cleared off the line. Zaha seemed to be the conduit for any threats from the Palace, and as the guests attempted to catch up by halving the arrears, he stung Ramsdale’s palms.

As Leandro Trossard and Granit Xhaka exchanged passes before Xhaka scored from close range, they would instead fall further behind. Schlupp would, however, get one back.

In an attempt to get an unusual second, Zaha dribbled a shot across Ramdale’s goal and wide, but once more they were unprepared at the other end. After Schlupp’s goal, Kieran Tierney—Oleksandr Zinchenko’s replacement—had too much room on the left and crossed for Saka to make a spectacular first-time finish.

To give his squad members crucial playing time as they completed the game’s final minutes to take a comfortable lead into the international break, Arteta shifted his pack in the dying minutes.

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