Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 5 – Is Gabriel Jesus the answer? How worrying is Bukayo Saka’s injury?

Gabriel Jesus had scored two goals for Arsenal in all of 2024 before his hat-trick against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, but he managed five in four days and two more tonight in their 5-1 Premier League win over Selhurst Park.

Ismaila Sarr had equalized for Palace in a hectic opening period – the goals came after six, 11 and 14 minutes – before Kai Havertz added a third Arsenal goal in the 38th minute after a header from Jesus hit the post.

Jesus should have scored his third when he failed from seven yards just before the hour mark, but a clever move shortly afterwards was finally completed by Gabriel Martinelli before Declan Rice, who came on to add to the control, scored in the 84th minute The box scored the fifth goal after a corner.

An apparent hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka, sustained while running quickly in the first half, which led to him being replaced by Leandro Trossard, was Arsenal’s biggest concern in the game.

Here The athleteJordan Campbell breaks down the key talking points.

Is Jesus the answer?

Even he looked like he couldn’t quite believe it. After a run of just one goal – against Championship side Preston North End in the Carabao Cup – in 33 Arsenal games since January, Jesus had just scored his fifth goal for them in less than an hour of football in consecutive games.

The way he placed his first shot into the top corner showed what a difference confidence can make. The Brazil international thought too much in front of goal, but this finish showed pure mental clarity.

His two goals against Palace were instinctive finishes from loose balls thrown his way, and that’s exactly what Arsenal have been missing last year: the Gabriel Jesus, playing like a child in the park, carefree and expressive.

He may have once naively said that scoring goals wasn’t his main strength, but the lack of such goals seemed to have weighed on him before this week. Until tonight, Jesus had not scored in the Premier League since opening the scoring in the 2-1 away win against Nottingham Forest on January 30. Yes, he was limited to just six starts during this period when Havertz took over as first-choice centre-forward, but it was still a massive dry spell for a player of his caliber.

The reason he left the team in the first place was because he was fading and his body was failing him.

The Brazilian has suffered six different injuries since joining from Manchester City in the summer of 2022. Since his torrid first six months, he had not regained the form that did so much to make Arsenal title contenders again.

Jesus scores Arsenal’s first goal against Palace (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The fear was that his knee problems may have done more damage than thought, but the midweek hat-trick against Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final could be a game-changer for Jesus and Arsenal if it is the catalyst for him to find his old life again himself. Jesus has always been an inconsistent goalscorer, but Arsenal could do with a productive performance from him, especially with Saka potentially out of a busy part of the season now.

How Arteta deals with Jesus getting back into form is now the big question.

Havertz’s level had fallen in recent weeks and he was moved back to left midfield to deputize for Jesus against Palace.

With both players sitting in the penalty area, Arsenal caused chaos throughout the game and with an extra attacker in midfield, this was their most dangerous game in a long time.

Jesus could have scored two more goals had he continued his clinical streak, but Arteta takes confidence from the fact that he can recognize his South American striker. Integrating both Havertz and Jesus into the team is his next dilemma.

How worrying is Saka’s injury?

It’s a sight we’ve become accustomed to: Saka lying on the ground and in need of treatment.

The difference this time was that he hadn’t been jostled, pulled, or thrown to the ground, and he didn’t jump back up.

When the England winger went down clutching his lower right thigh muscle in the 24th minute, there was no one around. There was no further play here. Trossard was immediately brought in as a replacement.

Saka appears to be in pain after falling to the ground while holding his right hamstring (Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Saka’s recovery abilities over the past few seasons have led us to believe that he is immune to serious muscle injuries. Playing over 250 senior games for Arsenal at the age of 23 without taking a long break is incredible, but at some point his body was bound to break down at some point.

It remains to be seen how serious this injury actually is, but Saka was sprinting at almost full speed when he apparently felt the problem on the back of his right thigh. The hopeful part is that he was able to slow down and work out a pass before calling for treatment, but Arsenal have games against Ipswich, Brentford and Brighton in the next two weeks.

Saka did not play for 17 days in October, including after suffering a hamstring injury on international duty, and missed England’s second game of that double-header as well as two Arsenal games. That’s about as long as Arteta has ever had to go without him, but if this turns out to be a serious injury he will have to go back to the drawing board as Arsenal still haven’t signed a recognized replacement.

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Arteta is “quite concerned” about Saka’s hamstring injury

Marquinhos arrived from Brazil in 2022 but has been loaned out almost since then, making his last appearance at Arsenal in January last year, while Raheem Sterling has failed to make much of an impact since his summer loan from Chelsea and also missed the Palace game with a knock.

Martinelli moved to the right wing tonight, which would be the most natural way to replace Saka.

Being right-footed, it would be a big change in the team’s overall dynamic considering how important the relationship between Martin Odegaard and Saka was, but Martinelli showed he can offer something different as he drove across the outside and A great cross delivered a cross for Havertz’s goal to make it 3-1.

Have Arsenal really stepped up their game in the title race?

Again Arsenal had the opportunity to put some pressure on their title rivals by playing before Liverpool and Chelsea were able to.

Two weeks ago they missed the chance away at Fulham, drawing the day after Liverpool’s derby against Everton was postponed and just before Chelsea beat Tottenham. Last weekend they again failed to capitalize, drawing 0-0 at home to Everton, while Arne Slot’s ten men lost two points to Fulham at Anfield and the visitors 24 hours before Chelsea Brentford defeated.

They made no mistake at Selhurst Park, scoring the goals and turning what initially seemed a difficult test into an entertaining second half.

The win leaves them three points behind leaders Liverpool, despite having already played two games more, and just one point behind second-placed Chelsea, who still have a game in hand. This means there is finally light between them and champions Manchester City, who are six points behind after the lunchtime defeat against Aston Villa and increasingly appear to be at the end of this title race.

Also notable is the emphatic nature of today’s result – Arsenal became the first English team to score five or more goals in six away games in a calendar year.

Liverpool play Tottenham tomorrow and Chelsea play Goodison, where Everton will be tough opponents and may be inspired by their recent takeover as both know Arsenal are breathing down their necks.

Arsenal are the only team of the three to have the experience of competing in title contention over the last two seasons. Liverpool still have some players who went above and beyond against City in 2019/20, but Arteta’s entire squad has been in this mental zone for two and a half years now.

Completely stress-free victories have been hard to come by for Arsenal this season. Even their 5-2 win over West Ham last month brought a minor crisis when they conceded two goals in five minutes late in the first half after taking the lead four times.

They conceded an early equalizer against Palace and struggled to play through the home team’s press in the first half. David Raya and William Saliba made sloppy errors that threatened to cause more drama, but once again a corner helped them regain the lead.

Unusually, they were able to go into half-time with a two-goal lead and it made a big difference in the second half when Rice came on and made a big impact, scoring and assisting another goal .

There doesn’t seem to be a team in the Premier League this season that comes close to perfection, but Arsenal appear to be a team that has realized they need to get close to where they were at the start of 2024.

What did Mikel Arteta say?

We will let you know after he speaks at the post-match press conference.

What’s next for Arsenal?

Friday, December 27th: Ipswich Town (H), Premier League, 8:15pm GMT, 3:15pm ET

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(Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)