Gabriel Jesus continued his goalscoring form against Crystal Palace, bagging twice in the first half, while his header led to Kai Havertz scoring the Gunners third to put us 3-1 up at the break.
It wasn’t always plain sailing and David Raya made some important saves at key moments, but second half strikes from Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice added a nice gloss to a good win to bring us into Christmas.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Crystal Palace 1-5 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
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Thank you for doing all you do and providing us this fantastic platform to discuss and share our opinions Andrew! Happy Christmas!
Totally agree!!!
GOAL!!!!! JESUS …. tks for the liveblog and humour … Merry Xmas from New Zealand
Amazing from Jesus. Really great.
But why does my brain worry that his sudden form will stop us going out in January and then from Feb onwards Jesus has a shocker?!
Keep the faith
It doesn’t hurt Johnny
Blogs thanks for all you do and a wonderful wonderful Christmas from all of mine to you and yours.
Thank you all for being here (well, most of you 😂)!
Upvote to this!
TP5 is so good on the ball.
Yeah he’s a great player. When he’s fit and on form he’s undroppable.
When I see Timber and Calafiori on the pitch, I get the feeling that I’m watching two brilliant products of their home country’s football heritage.
They just look like two real top professionals in every aspects of the game.
I like my team. Really a great deal. I will just say Merry Christmas 🎄 to all and to all a good night.
5-1 a great Christmas present! Let’s hope for a great 2025. I’m predicting City won’t end up above us, let’s hope the others drop off too. A happy New Year for us all is hoped for.
What the fuck is with the apologists ‘those who celebrate Christmas’ bullshit. You’re not offending anyone by saying the feel good factor is back leading into Christmas break. Don’t go woke on us here blogs.
We have readers and listeners from all over the world, not all of them celebrate Christmas. It’s just a small consideration that costs nobody anything, and shouldn’t offend anyone.
Also, please don’t throw ‘woke’ around like a pejorative, it’s used too often by the worst people these days.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Happy holiday’s. We, the woke, have won the War on Christmas ages ago and intend to gloat with our annual parade. Everyone is invited of course, because we’re not pricks.
Nobody claimed you are a prick in these comments, as far as I can tell. Holidays, the plural of holiday, by the way, comes from “holy days”. I’m not sure if that relates to your “war”, given I’m not at all certain who the combatants are. Enjoy your parade.
He’s obviously joking
Seriously? How on earth does the “those who celebrate Christmas” phrase offend you? How does it affect you so much that you actually have to make the effort to write in and complain about it? How many Muslims,Jews,Hindus, atheists,agnostics, do you think support Arsenal all over the world…or just in London alone? I could fall for the old cop out and suggest you just keep it to football. But the very fibre of Arsenal is ingrained in it’s diversity…in fact it may just be the most diverse club in the most diverse city in the world. So if you’re that… Read more »
Well presented
Too late for ‘don’t go woke’ – blogs has his sponsors to kow-tow to. You must hate Trump/twitter/Musk and talk them down at all times, promote DEI at all times…………
What sponsors are these then? We don’t have any advertising on the site at all.
Now now, Blogsta – mustn’t let actual fact get in the way of a good right-wing rant!
Are you ok? Trump has nothing to do with “soccer.” Go take a nap
You’re obviously taking the piss … Blogs bows down to no-one except Mrs Blogs and perhaps the Bergkamp-Henry-Wenger etc invincibles. So a wee way off there plastic Percy.
Think the pecking order is more Robert Pires > Ben White > Mrs Blogs 😆
Steady on 😂
Shouldn’t that be ‘pecker order’ ?
Fan of Robert Pires and Rum. Smitter of those that ought to be smote. It’s fookin’ excellent!
I see what you did there.
There really are some laughably fallacious humans on the internet.
I know right. The cult of Maga is unfortunately a thing and it’s global sadly.
You’re a tool.
Bugger off, and merry Christmas!
in deed i don‘t hate anyone, but forces that are destroying democracy should not be mentioned at all by nobody…
he wouldn’t be offending no, but as someone who doesn’t celebrate that particular holiday he definitely made me for one feel more included by adding that, so I’m appreciative. Is that such a bad thing in your eyes?
Talk about touchy! Bet you’re great at losing charades.
😂😂😂😂
Who cares? It’s a tiny consideration of people of other religions/cultures.
One of the reasons I come to this blog is because people don’t do this here. I’ve seen people say some silly things and seen some heated disagreements, but please don’t start this nonsense.
Imagine getting upset about the way that someone chooses to say Merry Christmas. What a joke.
What a way to try to cancel the Christmas spirit…
As an American, believe me when I say that half of us are just as embarrassed by this behavior as everyone else around the world…
Especially as the term is meant to indicate “social awareness” and acceptance of your history, good and bad (of which we have plenty of both, some of us just aren’t as afraid to admit it).
I’m so sorry this attitude has become one of our main exports. Please don’t hold it against all of us.
‘Woke’? Do you actually know what that means?! Ffs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke?wprov=sfti1
Apparently they don’t.
Am I the only one finding it kind of ironic that the person complaining about blogs “going woke” (which I disagree to) is being such a snowflake?
I can’t even imagine what this guy is like after an Arsenal defeat.
The fact that you can get offended by something that most people will barely notice is truly mind-boggling! Anyway, it’s Christmas and I guess it’s the season for the ‘ snowflakes ‘ .
MLS marking Mateta at their corners at first seemed insane. He’s 18 and a full head shorter than Mateta, but he held this own. Really impressed with this kid.
I guess because he’s small he’s a ‘blocker’ whereas the bigger guys are tasked with attacking the ball/heading away
Jover you genius
Curious what everyone thinks about the way Palace shifted 3 players to midfield in the past 2 games and whether other teams will follow. Although, maybe you already blogged about that.
Happy Holidays to everyone. What I want for Christmas is a clean hamstring for Saka!
Hugely. He’s going to be another of our own to be hugely successful. That Mikel waited to have Gabriel in the line up to give him a start is just smart managing – but others don’t see it that way I guess.
im starting to think there’s some tactical issue with the left number 8 position. we’ve tried several players there and none seemed to work. mind you, both players who played there today scored, and i thought they played well. but on almost every play, they’re irrelevant. they’re nowhere to be seen when we attack, they don’t play the final pass, they don’t shoot, they don’t drag the mark; they are forced to just play the ball sideways and occasionally press, as they’re also pretty much irrelevant on our defensive phase. im a tactical donkey so i might be talking nonse,… Read more »
Xhaka did well there in 2022/23 season! That’s neither Havertz nor Rice natural position. We needed another midfielder who could do the job there but we opted for Merino!
yes he did and i love xhaka! but if you recall well, by the time he left we were feeling the role didn’t quite fit him either and it was an opportunity to bring a better player. trossard, merino, havertz and rice havent done better. it can’t be a coincidence, that role seems problematic. hopefully merino (who’s supposedly the best fit for that position) starts delivering and draws the line on the matter.
Declan works there just fine, as long as we have Partey behind him
Works okay with jorginho too, but better as a double pivot. Ideally we would be adding someone who could play either role so we are capable of some flexibility (bring me adam wharton pls)
I think one possible solution is to play a left-sided attacking midfielder opposite Ødegaard. Would be interesting to see Nwaneri start there, against the right opposition obviously
I think this would be an interesting experiment especially as Saka is out. A combination with Ode, Trossard, Cali and Jesus could be very pleasing on the eye.
Solid argument.
Great way to honor the gaffer’s 5-year anniversary! Delighted to see us so front-footed and brave in every challenge. Seemed as if the entire squad was involved and in very good spirit (if holding our collective breath re: B’s hammy). First time this season that Dec has looked his imperious best and Jesus seems reborn (sorry). A festive holiday gift from the lads. Merry Christmas to all fellow Gooners who celebrate such.
I think we all know that Jesus isn’t going to be the consistent 20+ goals a season striker that we supposedly need (not getting into that) but if he could stay fit, score 10-15 goals a season like Saka/Havertz/Martinelli and add the dynamism and flair to the attack that he is capable of then he is a bloody fantastic player. Hopefully he’s back and on form and injury won’t banjax him again.
Big Gabi should also get at least a half assist for his fellow Gabi’s second goal, the way he blocked the defender that was rushing Jesus was brilliant stuff… the spirit of Benjamin is alive! I’m absolutely dreaming of a Ben White christmas ❄️
For clarity’s sake (and future reference), it’s as follows:
Big Gabi
Fast Gabi
Holy Gabi
Myles was brilliant today. So exciting, that we can watch two academy players becoming absolute gems
Merry Christmas to the Arseblog and Arsenal family ❤️
I wonder if Rambo wouldn’t be happier as backup to Raya now. Rotten luck has dogged him. Credit to him for what he’s done for us and what he wants to make of his career. But it looks like another relegation.
With hindsight a very poor move. Sub at Arsenal would have been a lot better option.
Yeah he really is too good for that. Hopefully he’ll find his way to a solid PL club as he’s good enough to be a PL stalwart for years to come as well as England number 1. Raya is clearly an upgrade but we all loved Rambo.
Both of Gabriel Jesus’ goals showed the timing, confidence, and ruthlessness of a real goalscorer. The first one was by no means easy, brilliantly placed with no hesitation; the second was pretty nice too. No, I don’t understand it either.
Great to see Calafiori back, just hope he will be OK from that challenge. He continued on, but often the impacts can be felt more after the match is done and the adrenaline has died down.
Merry Christmas beautiful people ❤️🙏🏽🙏🏽
FIIIVE GOOOAL RIIIIIINGS!!!
Merry Christmas, Gooners!
🎅
Great fame. Great Win. We need to keep this going.
I think MLs is a better player right now that Ethan
Well, MLS is a very good fit with what Mikel wants from a left back. Nwaneri is trying to do what MO does most of the time and no one can do that as well. He’ll force Arteta to use him to best advantage by showing his talent when he’s out there, and his teammates will adapt as they have to Odegaard. He’s really good; it’s that he’s being put in a less well defined position and as an AM is tasked with combining with more players–and participate in a press, and get back on D. A tough ask for… Read more »
Now Saka is going to have some time on the rehab bench, I think Nwaneri is going to get some game time on the RW. Aaron Ramsey spent some time there developing before going central and playing out there will allow him to play alongside Odegaard to learn from him. When injuries hit, opportunity knocks.
Easy win. What a week for Jesus. If he can keep doing that we’re right back in the hunt.
Joy’s factor is back 👏
Devastated to discover how over this title race is.
Thought Havertz was good today and was disappointed to see him subbed but Rice came on and changed the game. So much for my thoughts!
I’ve always liked Havertz in midfield.
I wish we stick with playing him there, while Jesus playing upfront, especially with him -hopefully- regaining his confidence and form (long may that last).
Their ability to swap positions is nice, but the giant gap it leaves in midfield is a greater worry against hard running sides. If we tried that against villa we’d have been spanked today, for instance.
Trossard rating is generous
I want to note something I have pondered a bit. What if Saka and Martinelli switched sides?opponents focus on the right side because os saka odie and white or timber.
My thinking is the left has been unsettled because of injuries. Maybe saka on the left would provide more threat on that side?
Nope – just need Tierney to bomb down the left on the overlap. That was patently clear in the midweek Palace game… drags the opposition def from side to side and keeps ’em honest.
Most NB, prevents them just load 3 or even 4 players onto the Ode and Saka.
Califoria or Tommy or timber with merino works
Merry Christmas to all of you. Thanks for everything for another year, bossman.
Merry Christmas Blogs and the entire team and thank you for another great year of world class journalism! Hats off to y’all!
Watching lil’ Myles – I was minded of a (barely!) 17yr old academy kid coming on in freezing Ukraine weather vs Vorkli Porkli (or summat?)… name of Saka. The same instant calm, time on the ball, fearless unflappability. Jesus has arrived for Xmas – luvvin’ it! Big Willy opened his Talisker cask-strength a tad early methinks… seriously sleepy this week – wtf backing off and inviting Sarr to shoot? (which he duly did!) Partey is SO much better in the middle – noble shift at RB but please Mik, we need him controlling things… one of the few who always… Read more »
I think these players ratings must be slightly swayed by the fact we won 5-1 away and blogs Christmas drinks cabinet has been opened slightly early! On another day Palace could’ve had 4 and we’d have no complaints, defensively we were well off it and Saliba for sure was the poorest I’ve seen for a long time.
Have a great Christmas Blogs
Thanks y’all for being the titillating company you’ve been and continue to be, and, of course, for being Gooners.
Happy holidays mates. 🥃🥃🥃🍺😁💥