Arsenal move 8 points ahead of City as Saka shows his brilliance

Arsenal had a comfortable evening at the Emirates, as they defeated Crystal Palace 4-1 on Sunday to increase their lead over second-placed Manchester City to eight points.

Palace sacked manager Patrick Vieira on Thursday after a 12-match winless run, and interim boss Paddy McCarthy could not end their poor form on Sunday.

Martinelli opened the scoring 28 minutes after he was found by Saka’s searching pass. The Brazil international dribbled past Joel Ward and sent an effort into the far corner beyond the Crystal Palace keeper, Joe Whitworth.

Saka received a through ball from White and struck his 11th goal of the league campaign in spectacular fashion to give Arsenal some breathing space.

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Ten minutes after the break, Xhaka scored Arsenal’s 13th goal in their last four league games. Leandro Trossard, who contributed three assists in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory against Fulham last week, came through once more as he slipped the ball to Granit Xhaka who bundled the ball in the near post.

Schlupp gave Palace hope at 63 minutes as he forced the ball home after Arsenal failed to deal with a corner, but the away side failed to capitalize on the momentum.

Saka, already having a goal and an assist in the match came up to seal the victory as he belted a cross from Kieran Tierney to score his 12th league goal of the season in the 74th minute.

“Really pleased with the performance, the energy, the determination that we showed again, the way we controlled the game,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “It was tough after playing 120 minutes in the week, wondering how the team would react but they reacted brilliantly and the crowd was at it again.”

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