Here's things we learned from Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace – by Alan Alger

Arteta takes notice (or gets there eventually)…

It’s good to know that Mikel Arteta avidly caught up with this column while he was sunning himself in Dubai.

Okay, I know the Gooner Fanzine and Online Gooner should be a must read for anyone of an Arsenal persuasion, but I’m not big headed enough to say the boss takes tips from me.

Yet two things did happen during the thrashing of Crystal Palace that I’ve been crying out for, for months. I did fear the worst when Leandro Trossard placed the ball in the quadrant as we reached 10 minutes on the clock and had our first corner.

To then see Declan Rice trot over to take it was amazing. We found ourselves 1-0 up from a perfect delivery! Let’s never see Trossard take one again please. I’ve only been asking since about October.

We also saw Oleksandr Zinchenko deployed in an unrestricted role against bottom half opposition at home – the absolute perfect place for him.

He can run those type of games and I absolutely have no problem with him doing that. Especially when the opposition make minimal threats against his defensive ability.

I think he should also play in our next game but be dropped for Liverpool at home – let’s see if that happens, then I might really get delusions that Mikel is reading this.

Home comforts for show, away wins for a pro...

What a ridiculous banner the Palace fans held up about our scarves! Anyway, on that ‘show, pro’ theme, we absolutely need to improve our haul of away points. It’s great to see that against the bottom seven teams we have an overall record (home and away) of 100% - played 8, won 8.

In the last campaign we actually dropped 12 points in those matches – I remind you we only lost the league by a margin of five!

But, we still have to visit five of the top eight and that’s where we need improvement. We certainly owe West Ham one on February 11th. After that we have a brutal end of season run where we visit The Etihad, Tottenham, Brighton and Old Trafford across a span of just 42 days.

Let’s hope we’re still in the race then, because it will be vital to win at least two of those matches and all while avoiding defeat in at least three.

Liverpool the benchmark and the danger…

Last year we ‘only’ had to contend with the breath of Manchester City down our necks as that season came to a disappointing end. This Premier League title campaign sees us in a chasing pack, along with Pep’s men, as Liverpool blaze a trail.

They’re coming to a critical point as they fight on three domestic fronts and in the Europa League. Many people had written off the Reds and their squad described as a spent force as they floundered in 2022/23. They came fifth with no silverware.

We finished 17 points ahead of them in May and this time they’re five ahead of us with 17 games to go. That’s a huge swing and all credit to them, but overall I don’t think they’re massively superior to us (as seen in the two recent games against them).

We have to find the same cutting edge that they have, while consistently creating chances. While we are already above the radar due to our exploits last season, I think the narrative in the media will swing to a two-horse race between Liverpool and City – which could favour us.

February 4th at home to Jurgen Klopp’s men is a must win game if we are to be serious about a title push. They’re yet to win away in the league against any team in the top eight this season. We need to focus on Liverpool for now and not City.

The game against Nottingham Forest in between comes at the right time and I expect us to sweep them aside just as we did with Palace. Their home form has not been as strong as last season, we must exploit that.