Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus staked his claim for a starting place for Arsenal as he put in a stellar performance to inspire the Gunners to a 5-1 win away to Crystal Palace.
The 27 year old Selecao star scored two and had a hand in two more goals as Mikel Arteta’s side moved back into contention in the Premier League title race; and he made it five goals in a week against the hapless Eagles having scored a hat-trick in the Carabao Cup clash on Wednesday. That display persuaded Arteta to take another look at Jesus as a potential answer to his striker problems and he delivered in some style, scoring a first half double to give Arsenal at 2-1 lead with just a quarter of an hour on the clock.
His first was a smart finish after Gabriel had knocked down a Bukayo Saka corner and, after the in-form Ismaila Sarr had fired in a beauty of an equaliser, Jesus struck again with his own curling finish. Confidence can have a powerful impact on a player and Jesus was now in irresistible form and he was inches away from his second hat-trick in four days when he headed a cross onto the upright and Kai Havertz, who has led the line for much of Arsenal’s campaign, was on hand to poke the rebound home.
With the score at 3-1 at half time Arsenal had some comfort and, after Palace attempted to launch a comeback in the second period, the game was up on the hour when Declan Rice latched onto a ball fro Jesus and fired it into the danger area and Gabriel Martinelli turned it home. Then Rice, who started this game on the bench, rounded off the scoring when he beat Dean Henderson with a cleverly executed finish from just inside the penalty area. At the beginning of the season my SBOTOP colleague James tipped Arsenal for the title, and this win took them up to within three points of the summit, though leaders Liverpool had two games in hand before they meet Spurs on Sunday.
On the day that Jesus rose the one piece of bad news for Gunners fans was that Bukayo Saka limped off with what looked like a hamstring pull and there will be a tense wait for news to come out of the Emirates.
City lose AGAIN
It won’t make the Premier League 2024 news for much longer but Manchester City went down to yet another defeat, this time to Aston Villa. And let’s be fair to Unai Emery’s side, they fully deserved the win. In an action packed Saturday the Villains inflicted a sixth defeat in eight league games on the Sky Blues and their hopes of winning a record fifth consecutive Premier League title has surely gone up in smoke, as the Sky Blues drifted nine points behind the leaders having played two games more.
Jhon Duran continued his impressive form with an early goal and, as Manchester City struggled to lay a glove on Emery’s men, the hosts doubled their lead through Morgan Rogers. City scored an injury time consolation through Phil Foden but it flattered the visitors who had put in another abject performance
I bet Pep Guardiola can’t wait to see the back of 2024!
Forest on fire
Nobody outside Nottingham expected Forest to be in the top four at Christmas and the pre-season Premier League 2024 betting odds backed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side as potential relegation candidates. But his team will go into the festive period with a Champions League place in their hands after they ended Brentford’s unbeaten home record thanks to a goal either side of half time from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga. The red hot Chris Wood almost scored his 11th league goal of the campaign when he was stopped by a brilliant save from Bees keeper Mark Flekken, but Forest saw out their third win in succession to send their fans into wonderland.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United star Alexander Isak moved alongside Wood onto ten goals as he plundered his first Premier League hat-trick, as the Magpies swept struggling Ipswich Town aside with a 4-0 win at Portman Road.
Eddie Howe’s side moved up into seventh place, a point behind Manchester City after a second 4-0 in a week, thrashing Leicester City by the same score line last weekend and, sandwiched in between those two victories they earned a 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Brentford. It looks like Newcastle are clicking through the gears, and Isak scored with just one minute on the clock before Jacob Murphy smashed in the second, and the Swedish hitman completed his hat-trick with a goal either side of half time.
The Magpies are now in the right half of the table and just two points behind a European place and five behind Forest in fourth; meanwhile the Tractor Boys are still in the bottom three and they face a long, hard winter.
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