Arsenal managed to once again play some of their best and worse football during their win over Crystal Palace.

During the opening minutes, it was somewhat reassuring to see that the Arsenal lads hadn’t changed at all over Christmas. In fact, we were back to our standard procedure with Petr Cech racing out of goal unnecessarily, Crystal Palace counter-attacking and the Gunners being left with just one defender at the back.

Calum Chambers, however, was looking strong, Alexis Sanchez was playing some good football for the first time this season and Granit Xhaka was trying to score worldies.

It took all of 12 minutes for Wilfried Zaha to take his first dive. Michael Oliver didn’t even look in his direction, thankfully.

Meanwhile, Shkodran Mustafi was struggling to deal with Palace’s attack and Laurent Koscielny was having a hard time at left centre-back, where he was standing in for the injured Nacho Monreal.

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The Frenchman, for example, attempted to put through Alexandre Lacazette but the ball rolled off the pitch.

Arsenal’s first clear chance came in the 20th minute when Mesut Ozil rolled a teasing ball into the box. It stopped at Xhaka’s feet but the midfielder’s shot was blocked.

Jack Wilshere than had a half-hearted shot seconds later after some pin-ball around Palace’s box.

The Gunners were moving the ball quickly and with purpose, they just needed to work on their accuracy, especially in the final third. Where have we heard that before…?

After the 20th minute, Arsene Wenger’s men began to turn the screw and eventually were given a free-kick outside of the Eagles’ area.

It came down to Shkodran Mustafi to neatly slot home the goal after Lacazette prevented the ball from going out of play and crossed to the German on the other side of the box. It was a tight angle and a really impressive goal for a centre-back to score.

Mesut Ozil almost netted a second for Arsenal in the 30th minute after Alexis played him through beautifully. The Chilean has suddenly remembered that the January transfer window is just days away and if he wants Manchester City to sign him, he’ll have to play football. However, it wasn’t meant to be and the playmaker’s shot was saved.

The only disappointment was that Calum Chambers, who started off well, now looked a little out of his depth at centre-back and was already on a yellow.

Ozil once again almost put the Gunners 2-0 up before the 40-minute mark when he went one-on-one with Julián Speroni but was out-muscled off the ball and passed it out wide instead.

The 29-year-old probably should have got a shot away but we all know that’s not in his nature. He did well to stay on his feet anyway.

Arsenal went in at half time just 1-0 ahead. They should have found the back of the net more than once. However, as ever, we were lacking that final ball. We also looked really vulnerable at the back.

Would we pay for not putting the game to bed early on?

Arsenal got off to a quick start in the second half at Selhurst Park. Hector Bellerin, who had been poor for the entire first half, wasn’t picked up at the back post during an Arsenal free-kick.

The Spaniard made a speedy run into the area but struggled to control the ball and Speroni saved.

Five minutes into the second half, Arsenal were punished for not putting away their chances in the first.

Andros Townsend made it 1-1 when Koscielny failed to pick up his run into the box and Sead Kolasinac allowed the ex-Spurs man to just run away from him.

However, it was a good shot… their only shot on target so far.

https://twitter.com/TheGoonerette/status/946487965089484804

The equaliser was all Palace needed to really kick them up the arse. The Eagles then began to run rings around the shell-shocked Gunners.

Arsenal were as bad at the back as they were good at the front. That one goal completely unhinged the entire team and it began to get embarrassing.

However, it was Alexis who thundered the ball into the back of Palace’s net at the other end. The Gunners had found their footing again, Lacazette laid the ball off to him and with the forward playing like he was, he wasn’t going to miss the chance to put his side 2-1 ahead and show City what he can do.

Minutes later, the Chilean made it 3-1 with another stunning finish.

Jack Wilshere set him up with an equally lovely pass over the top.

https://twitter.com/HarryShotta/status/946491893847855105

https://twitter.com/_nachomonreal/status/946492388905758721

For some reason, Lacazette was taken off for Francis Coquelin in the 75th minute. The 26-year-old did not look at all happy.

Despite being 3-1 ahead, Chambers still struggled to deal with Zaha, who had been causing him problems all game.

Zaha looked the most dangerous during the closing minutes. The winger got a good chance in the 83rd minute when he out-muscled Bellerin. However, the ball connected with his shoulder instead of his head and went out. Two minutes later, the 25-year-old went close again.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/946497333457547264

With Palace turning on the pressure, it was James Tomkin to net the home side’s second with just minutes on the clock.

https://twitter.com/HayleyWright/status/946498230333866001

Thankfully, despite Arsenal doing their best to Arsenal up their lead, they didn’t.

Arsenal always looked as if they were going to win (well, mostly) and with West Brom just three days away, we definitely need the points. However, our vulnerability right after conceding when we should be attempting to compose ourselves is really noticeable and pretty concerning.

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