Arsenal were let down by “awful” 116-touch star at Palace

Nothing but a win will do for Arsenal now in their pursuit of the Premier League title.

Chelsea and Liverpool are soaring high but even with Manchester City seemingly now out of the race, the Gunners have to be perfect.

They have been far from that in recent weeks, however, dropping four points against Fulham and Everton over the last two weekends.

Well, on a weekend when boss Mikel Arteta celebrated five years in charge of Arsenal, they gave him the perfect present with a rampant 5-1 win at Selhurst Park, defeating Crystal Palace for the second time this week.

Just days ago the north London side defeated their London rivals in the Carabao Cup but this victory arguably had greater meaning given their performances in the league over the last few weeks.

Like he was at the Emirates on Wednesday evening, Gabriel Jesus was the hero once again.

Gabriel Jesus’ performance vs Crystal Palace

What a week this has been for the Brazilian striker. Against Palace in midweek, the former Man City star scored a first-class hat-trick and grabbed his first goals at home for just over a year.

He was still awaiting his first Premier League goal since January, but that came on Saturday when Jesus delivered another scintillating display.

Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice also got on the scoresheet but it was Jesus who stole the show, scoring the opener with a neat finish from around six yards out.

His second goal was an even better strike. Following a corner, Thomas Partey laid possession into the path of the Brazil international who wrapped his foot around the ball and hammered it past Dean Henderson.

This has been a landmark week for Jesus and with Bukayo Saka cruelly going off with a hamstring injury in the first half, the importance of his contributions in the final third will only be elevated.

He quite possibly could have had more than two as well with the 27-year-old striking the post which led to Havertz’s goal and then sticking a simple one-on-one chance straight at Henderson in the same phase of play that Martinelli found the net from.

It was another brilliant performance but the same cannot be said of one man at the back.

Saliba’s performance in numbers vs Crystal Palace

Over the last few years, William Saliba has been known as one of the best central defenders in the league. He is the natural heir to Van Dijk as the Premier League’s foremost centre-half.

Only a few days ago, he was celebrated as one of the best in the entire world too, with FIFA’s The Best award selecting him among their Team of the Year.

Kylian Mbappe even suggested the defender should have been France’s Player of 2024, given his impeccable displays for club and country.

Therefore, his performance at Selhurst Park on Saturday evening was rather perplexing with that in mind, with Jamie Carragher commentating on Sky Sports summing things up well by suggesting he had an “awful first 20 minutes”.

Because of Saliba, Arsenal could well have conceded twice within those moments. For Ismaila Sarr’s equaliser, the Frenchman backtracked and failed to get close enough to the Palace forward who was allowed to fire past David Raya under very little pressure from the Gunners’ defence.

Just minutes later the defender almost cost Arteta’s men a second goal. Saliba got caught in possession by Sarr who then slipped in Jean-Philippe Mateta.

A scorer against the north Londoners just a few days before in the Carabao Cup, he fluffed his lines here, allowing Raya to come out and smother the striker’s brilliant chance to score.

One mistake from Saliba is a rarity but to get two in one game is almost unheard of. Truth be told, it was perhaps his worst half for the club yet, with GOAL handing him a 4/10 match rating following the full-time whistle.

The numbers didn’t paint the prettiest picture of his evening either.

Indeed, Saliba didn’t make a successful tackle all game and only won one of his four ground duels, a statistic that summed up how out of sorts the Frenchman was this weekend.

With matches coming thick and fast over the festive period, Arsenal will need to rediscover their knack for keeping clean sheets again. An in-form Saliba – not the one they got on Saturday – will be key to that.