Eberechi Eze scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace to go four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Eze, who joined Arsenal from Palace in the summer for over £60million, struck towards the end of the first half with an emphatic finish.
The goal came from a set-piece and underlined the importance of them to Arsenal, as the hosts struggled to open Palace up.
Simon Collings was at Emirates Stadium to see Arsenal in action…
Eze magic makes the difference
Mikel Arteta often moaned last season about Arsenal’s failure to conjure “magic moments” in tight games.
It was a problem the club wanted to solve in the summer and the solution was to bring in Eze.
Eze scored against former club Crystal Palace
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
“He has the capacity to create these magic moments,” Arteta said after Eze’s signing was announced.
“He can do it from different positions, different situations. He’s got that flair and he’s got that charisma about him that is very contagious. His talent is unquestionable.”
This here was a perfect example of what Eze brings to Arsenal. They were struggling to break Palace down until Yeremy Pino fouled Bukayo Saka to give them a free-kick.
Declan Rice swung in the ball and it feel perfectly for Eze, who rushed forward and emphatically found the bottom corner.
It was the one true moment of quality in another wise turgid game – and the difference between Arsenal claiming three points instead of one.
George Graham was in the stands at Emirates Stadium for this game and, while this may not have been a game for the neutrals, he will have surely had a wry smile at the end of it.
It was under Graham that the famous chant of ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ became synonymous with the Gunners, thanks to the brilliant back-four he assembled.
Eze broke the deadlock with a volley from a set-piece
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Arteta spent much of his career playing under Arsene Wener, but there are shades of Graham of this side.
This was Arsenal’s fifth clean sheet in a row and they restricted Palace to just one shot on target across the 90 minutes.
After Eze scored, it felt like the Gunners were happy to lock this game down, safe in the knowledge that their defence would not be beaten.
Even William Saliba going off at half time did not have an impact, with Cristhian Mosquea coming on and seamlessly slotting into the defence.
A set-piece breaks the game open, again
Perhaps there will come a time when Nicolas Jover has a statue outside the Emirates, instead of a mural.
Arsenal’s love for their set-piece coach is sometimes ridiculed by opposition fans, but their value cannot be underestimated.
This was Arsenal’s 11th goal from set-pieces already this season, which is more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.
Against a Palace team setup in a 4-5-1 formation without the ball, Arsenal were going to need something special to break the deadlock.
Saka was doubled up on at times, and had no space. Viktor Gyokeres was forced to feed off scraps when running in behind.
It is why set-pieces are so crucial to Arsenal and Arteta trust Jover with spending as much time on them as possible.
