Arsenal 3 – 2 Crystal Palace – Match report

Hat-trick hero Gabriel Jesus was the star of the show, thanks to the immediate impact of substitutes Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, as we beat Crystal Palace 3-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early opener gave Palace the lead, but Jesus equalized with a cool lob early in the second half. The Brazilian then gave us the lead with a powerful strike into the bottom left corner and Odegaard sent him on the counter-attack to secure our third goal of the night.

Hale End Academy graduate Eddie Nketiah ensured a nervy ending with five minutes left when he headed past David Raya.

Eagles lead the way

It took just four minutes for the visitors to open the scoring when Mateta put a long ball across goal from Dean Henderson and was parried by Jakub Kiwior before hitting the bottom right corner with his left foot.

We hoped to respond through a corner from Leandro Trossard that found its way to Jesus on the right side of the 18-yard box, but his shot into the bottom left corner was too soft to bother Henderson.

Palace released the ball moments later and Raheem Sterling found Trossard, who shot over the bar for the first time.

Ismaila Sarr’s shot was then deflected, but Raya parried and Palace waited for a second shot before Eberechi Eze tried to catch our goalkeeper with a shot towards goal from almost the halfway line, but it sailed over the crossbar.

Trossard continued to look like one of our most likely attacking candidates, beating Caleb Kporha on the left and winning a free kick that was ultimately beaten clear by Henderson.

We were close to equalizing when Jesus was fouled by Maxence Lacroix on the edge of the box and Sterling rolled towards the top left corner from the set piece. However, Henderson was there again and denied us by pushing the shot over the crossbar.

Mikel Merino headed past the post from another Trossard corner and we went into half-time a goal behind.

IMMEDIATE EFFECT

At half-time Odegaard and William Saliba came on for Ethan Nwaneri and Thomas Partey and it didn’t take long for our club captain to make an impact.

After Sterling parried a close-range shot from Henderson and the follow-up shot hit the crossbar thanks to a brilliant cross from Kieran Tierney and Mikel Merino shot just past the bottom right of the goal from a distance, it was Odegaard with the incisive through ball for our equalizer.

The Emirates Stadium was rocking as Jesus found himself on the receiving end of the threaded pass and guided the ball past Trevoh Chalobah before firing it over Henderson – a composed, confident finish from our number nine.

Lacroix and Jefferson Lerma both tried from distance as Palace looked to restore their lead. The former shot over the bar and the latter failed to put enough power into his shot to beat Raya.

ON THE RISE

Lacroix then prevented a second shot at the other end, blocking the shot after Trossard found Jesus, who fired the ball towards goal and into the side netting.

Myles Lewis-Skelly came on as a substitute in the 69th minute for the injured Tierney and Saka also came on in place of Sterling.

Merino shot straight at Henderson, but again it didn’t take long for one of our substitutes to make his mark on the game as Saka deftly fed Jesus, who fired the ball into the goal to make it 2-1.

After an outstanding second-half performance, Jesus then scored his hat-trick when Odegaard made no mistake sending him home on the counter-attack.

But the game wasn’t over yet as former Gunner Nketiah got past Raya in the 85th minute from Nathaniel Clyne’s cross to make it 3-2, with Kiwior then making way for Gabriel.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Raya saved a dangerous Palace corner and we managed to progress to the last four.

What’s next?

We face Crystal Palace again, this time at Selhurst Park, for Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off in the Premier League – our last game before Christmas.

As for the Carabao Cup, we will find out our opponent when the semi-final draw takes place after Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United on Thursday evening.