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Crystal Palace travelled to the Emirates on matchday 24 of English Premier League 2017/18, hoping to win some points on the road. However, things certainly did not go in their favour. The first half saw Arsenal absolutely overpowering Crystal Palace with some beautiful football and a few scrappy goals.
Nacho Monreal scored one and set up two in the first fifteen minutes only, one apiece for Iwobi and Koscielny. Mesut Ozil then flicked a delightful ball into Lacazette's path, who then scored Arsenal's fourth of the night.
The second half was relatively quieter with arsenal taking their foot off the gas. However, Crystal Palace did grab a consolation goal. Let's take a look at how the players fared for the two London based sides.
Arsenal
Petr Cech: 7/10
The Czech International was the standout performer in goal last night. He pulled off a brilliant one-on-one save against Christian Benteke in the first half apart from a number of routine saves. He could have done nothing about the goal.
Hector Bellerin: 7/10
Hector Bellerin gave a solid performance on the right-hand side of Arsenal's defence. Though he was not as extravagant has his side's other full-back, he did manage to pop up in space time and again on Arsenal's right flank.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10
The star centre-back marked his return to the side with a goal. He was solid in defence and dealt well with a very physical Christian Benteke. He should be very happy with his performance along with the Arsenal faithful.
Shkodran Mustafi: 7/10
The German international was the quieter of the two hard tackling centre backs that Arsenal have. However, that doesn't mean he had a quiet night. He was still very aware of the dangers that were lurking and took care of them with aplomb.
Nacho Monreal: 9/10
Monreal had one of the best nights of his long Arsenal career. He was on the pitch for about half an hour but still managed to score a goal and set up two more for his teammates. Unfortunately, he had to be taken off injured.
Mohamed Elneny: 6.5/10
The Egyptian International was influential throughout the game. He broke plays and started attacks from his own half. This was a good commanding display from him in the middle of the park.
Jack Wilshere: 7.5/10
Written off and ridiculed, this England International certainly knows how to shut his critics up. He had a great part to play in Arsenal's fourth and was almost always a threat in attack as he broke up Palace's midfield lines with ease.
Granit Xhaka: 6/10
Xhaka put in a decent performance against Crystal Palace; he helped out in defence and used the ball wisely. However, he was not much influential in attack apart from assisting Nacho Monreal for his goal from the corner.
Mesut Ozil: 8/10
Ozil seems to be growing in his role at Arsenal after an underwhelming start to the season. It was a great performance from the German international, who had an assist and a couple of silky touches to show apart from dictating the play for the gunners.
Alex Ieobi: 7/10
The Nigerian started on the left wing in the absence of Alexis Sanchez. He was direct, took on his man and quite often got better of him. He scored Arsenal's second goal.
Alexandre Lacazette: 7/10
Alexandre Lacazette ended his goal drought with a nicely taken finish. Elsewhere, he was always busy creating space for himself and his teammates.
Substitutes
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 6.5/10
He was brought on for Nacho Monreal, who had to limp off the field. He continued his good work for the rest of the match and was quite solid in defence.
Reiss Nelson: 5/10
He was brought on for Mesut Ozil with twenty minutes to go. However, he never really got into the game and was always a bit off the frequency on which his team-mates were operating.
Sead Kolasinac: N/A
Kolasinac was a very late substitution. He did not have any time to affect the game.
Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey: 7/10
Hennessey was helpless in goal and wasn't helped by his defence. Though he did get his hand on Lacazette's shot that went in, he was beaten by its power and could have done little about the other goals too. He did make a bunch of impressive saves throughout the match.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah: 4/10
One of many Palace players who could not perform to their full potential. He struggled in defence as Iwobi looked quite threatening on his side of the pitch. He did not contribute much in attack too apart from a few decent runs. His poor clearance led to Iwobi's goal.
Martin Kelly: 5/10
A completely underwhelming performance as he was nowhere to be found during Arsenal's goals and then was caught ball watching when Koscielny scored. He would like to forget the night quite quickly.
James Tomkins: 5.5/10
Like his centre-back partner, Tomkins too had a miserable performance at the heart of Crystal Palace’s defence. He was left for dead by Ozil and company throughout the match and never really could put up a fight against Arsenal attackers, especially in the first half. He did make a few important interceptions and tackles to keep the scoreline respectable.
Patrick Van Aanholt: 6/10
He did fairly well against Bellerin and defended well in general and was probably the best Palace defender of the night. Offensively, he provided some amazing crosses which on any other day might have been turned into goals.
Wilfried Zaha: 5/10
This was again a game to forget for Zaha, who has been one of Palace's better player this season, barring this fixture. He struggled to cause too many problems and his final passes were poor. He failed to provide any end product as Roy Hodgson's side struggled to score.
Luka Milivojevic: 6/10
Like his partner in the middle of the park, he too was exposed defensively by Ozil and company, who often just seemed to breeze past him. However, he did press energetically and was decent going forward too as he capped off an underwhelming performance with a fine goal.
Yohan Cabaye: 4.5/10
Cabaye put in a decent display in the midfield as he screened his defence to some extent and also distributed the ball intelligently. However, he struggled against Ozil and lost him several times.
James McArthur: 5/10
Though he started well, he faded as the match wore on. He did not trouble Bellerin much and did not quite track the runs of Bellerin, who looked dangerous. He should be disappointed as to how things turned out.
Bakary Sako: 5.5/10
He was unable to unleash any troubling shots on goal to continue his goal-scoring form. He tried to link midfield and attack a couple of times but nothing that inventive came off.
Christian Benteke: 4.5/10
The big Belgian was fairly anonymous and was effectively marked out of the game by the metronomic Koscielny. He will look forward to improving his performance after a tough outing.
Substitutes
Jairo Riedewald: N/A
Riedewald was a 90th-minute substitution who didn't have much time to impact the game.
