Key events
FULL TIME: Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace
Arsenal clear out their pipes in style! As for Palace, Les Dawson budges up the piano stool to make room for Spike Milligan.
GOAL! Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace (Martinelli 90+5)
Arsenal come back immediately for more. Martinelli is once again sent bombing down the inside-left channel. He executes a carbon-copy finish. That, too, is delightful!
GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Crystal Palace (Martinelli 90+4)
Imagine the look on their faces now. Nketiah dribbles down the middle before slipping a perfectly weighted pass down the inside-left channel. Martinelli opens his body and steers a gentle shot across Henderson and into the bottom right. Precise brilliance.
90 min +3: In the stand, Palace owner Steve Parish sits with a face on. In the dugout, Roy Hodgson looks similarly fed up.
90 min +2: Another reads: “No shared vision. No structured plan.”
90 min +1: A banner in the Palace section is unfurled. It reads: “Wasted potential on and off the pitch. Weak decisions. Taking us backwards.”
90 min: There will be six added minutes.
89 min: Martinelli tugs a low cross back from the byline on the left. ZInchenho flips a shot goalwards while falling backwards. Soft and easy for Henderson.
87 min: Another Palace change. Tomkins comes on for Guehi.
86 min: Martinelli and Zinchenko combine down the left. Twice. They take turns to cross low, in the hope of finding Odegaard in the middle. On both occasions, Andersen reads the danger and clears.
85 min: Martinelli buzzes up and down the left flank, but to no avail. He’s looked lively since coming on, though.
83 min: Franca spins Zinchenko elegantly and prepares to race towards the Arsenal box from the right flank. But the flag goes up for a generous foul. On the touchline, Roy Hodgson wears a frustrated look. He’s been playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.
81 min: Arsenal’s sort-of-two-goal hero Gabriel limps off, to be replaced by Kiwior. Jesus also makes way, for Nketiah.
80 min: … except to say that Martinelli romps off on a counter, only to scamper down a cul-de-sac. For a second, a fourth goal looked on the cards.
79 min: It’s not been a banner minute for Jorginho, who now ships possession 30 yards from his own goal. Eze and Ozoh combine to win a corner, from which nothing develops.
78 min: Jorginho takes a shot that is currently sailing over the platforms at Finsbury Park.
76 min: Roy Hodgson sends on a couple of youngsters in Franca and Ahamada. They replace Schlupp and Clyne.
75 min: Saka rakes a shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Arsenal are in the mood for more.
74 min: Smith Rowe and Jesus combine crisply down the inside-left channel but Richards is on point to put a stop to their spree.
73 min: Mikel Arteta is in squad-management mode now. He replaces Rice with Jorginho.
71 min: Martinelli is immediately in the thick of it, romping down the left. He’s got options in the middle, but over-dribbles and runs out of road. Goal kick.
70 min: Martinelli replaces Trossard … and to huge cheers, Smith Rowe is welcomed to the match. Havertz makes way. The Arsenal fans telling it as they see it.
68 min: Palace swap out Hughes for Ozoh.
66 min: Andersen crosses from the left. The ball’s cushioned down for Schlupp, who scuffs a decent half-chance. “If Roy was billing a 20s jazz revival today with his self-playing piano, he’s found his perfect flapper in Henderson.” Justin Kavanagh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the opium.
64 min: Eze whistles a fierce free kick goalwards. It’s well hit, but straight at Raya, who tips over. The resulting corner is sent long, and Hughes attempts to Paul Scholes a volley goalwards. Blocked, but full marks for ambition.
63 min: Eze shapes to shoot on the edge of the Arsenal box, then pauses to buy a free kick from Jesus, who clatters him from behind. A free kick just to the left of the D.
61 min: VAR has a long check for offside, but Trossard was clearly on. When play finally restarts, Arsenal come tearing at Palace again, Jesus slamming a shot straight at Guehi, who bravely blocks. Then the flag goes up; this move’s offside.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Crystal Palace (Trossard 59)
It’s another Arsenal goal from a corner … though this time it’s from one of Crystal Palace’s! The corner ends up in Raya’s arms. He immediately sends Jesus scampering on the counter down the right. Jesus crosses for Trossard, who takes a touch on the spot to send Clyne sliding away, before slamming home.
58 min: There’s some pinball in the box. Jesus goes down and screams for a spot kick. Clyne had lightly tugged him, but not in the manner suggested by Jesus’s melodramatic fall. The referee’s not interested. Neither is VAR. Eze goes up the other end and wins a corner. From which …
57 min: Arsenal suddenly pick up their legs and Jesus shoots from a tight angle on the right. Corner for Arsenal, which surely means more trouble for Palace.
56 min: Now it’s Arsenal’s turn to knock the ball around without any particular urgency.
54 min: Arsenal seem happy enough to sit back, hold their shape, and let Palace stroke it around. The visitors are going nowhere fast. “With not much end product coming from Trossard, no one getting shots on target and Havertz doing being Havertz all over again, surely it’s time for Smith Rowe to get some decent time?” wonders Charles Antaki. “Otherwise those cold Arctic winds will start to blow in the unmistakable out-on-loan fashion.”
52 min: Eze tries to release Mitchell into the Arsenal box down the left, but his slide-rule pass is anticipated by the back-tracking Saka and shepherded out for a goal kick.
50 min: Jesus breaks down the right and crosses low for Trossard, alone on the penalty spot. Trossard should score, but with Dawsonesque comic timing, miskicks woefully. Raya claims. Saka also makes a claim, demanding a penalty for a garden-variety coming together with Hughes. He’s not getting one.
49 min: Eze has a crack from distance. The ball’s bouncing towards the bottom-left corner, so Raya is forced to turn around the post. The keeper then claims Eze’s corner. “The thing about Les Dawson’s piano playing is that it took a great deal of musicianship and technical skill to set up a tune, before playing the bum note just at the right time for maximum comedic value,” writes Tom Atkins. “So if anything, it’s more akin to Arsenal’s finishing over the last three or four weeks.”
47 min: Arsenal are immediately on the front foot. Saka wins a corner down the right. Gabriel wins a header but can’t complete his hat-trick score his second goal. The ball breaks to Rice, whose long-distance speculator flies straight down Henderson’s throat.
Arsenal get the second half underway … and it’s now announced that we were correct in the first place, with the second goal officially given as a Dean Henderson own goal.
Arsenal’s second goal has been awarded to Gabriel. That decision should please Kári Tulinius, who writes: “Morally speaking the goal should be Gabriel’s. I realise it’s not the worst way that the betting industry affects football, but it’s pretty galling to assign goalkeepers own goals when the ball pings off them while they’re attempting a save.”
HALF TIME: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace
Easy for Arsenal. The Crystal Palace piano has been commandeered by the spirit of Les Dawson.
45 min +2: Jesus wedges in from the left. Trossard meets the dropping ball and sends a rising screamer over the bar. Wide also. He wants a corner but he’s not getting one.
45 min +1: Lerma takes a step in from the left and aims a curler towards the bottom right. Raya claims, although not in a totally clean fashion. A mistake or two in him, all right.
45 min: There will be four additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Lerma’s had his neck checked out, and thankfully he’s up and about again. He’s good to continue.
43 min: Lerma has landed awkwardly after leaping backwards over the top of Jesus. On comes the trainer.
41 min: The free kick’s looped to Zinchenko at the far post. He takes it down and flicks goalwards. Clyne bravely heads clear. Palace counter, Schlupp’s shot from distance dribbling through to Raya.
40 min: Jesus dribbles down the right. Mitchell tangles with him and brings him down. A free kick just outside the box near the byline. The way Palace have defended corners, this could mean trouble.
39 min: Gabriel might claim that goal, mind. The stadium announcer has certainly given him it. We’ll keep you posted. Palace weren’t happy, suggesting Henderson was unfairly impeded by White. But VAR took a check, and that’s that.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace (Henderson 37 og)
Saka swings it in, and swings it in long. The ball loops over Henderson, who can’t get past White. At the far stick, Gabriel heads down and across the face of goal, the ball pinging off the back of Henderson’s noggin and in.
36 min: Saka and Odegaard combine down the right to win a corner off Mitchell. Saka to take.
35 min: Jesus takes matters into his own hands and dribbles down the left. He draws a foul from Lerma. Now it’s Arsenal’s turn for a free kick in a dangerous position. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box, waiting for Odegaard’s delivery. In it goes. Mitchell heads clear.