Arsenal thrashed a sorry Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, beating the Eagles 5-0 in a comfortable victory.

Gabriel had given Arsenal a two-goal half-time lead, opening the scoring through his powerful header before seeing another effort ricochet off Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson on its way in.

Leandro Trossard put the game to bed before the hour mark with a tidy finish, with substitute Gabriel Martinelli scoring a late brace to put some gloss on the scoreline in north London.

Having lost back-to-back Premier League matches against West Ham United and Fulham, Arsenal couldn’t afford another slip-up against a London club. However, the meeting with Crystal Palace instantly had a different feel to it, with the Gunners taking the lead early on at the Emirates to ease any nerves.

Gabriel rose above Chris Richards to meet Declan Rice’s inswinging corner, powering his header down into the ground and beyond Dean Henderson.

Corners were the theme of the afternoon for Arsenal, with Palace never looking comfortable dealing with the hosts’ aerial threats. It’s also where the Gunners grabbed their second of the game, Gabriel forcing a Dean Henderson own goal with another far-post header.

Having spurned an earlier opportunity to put Arsenal out of sight, Trossard did eventually put the Gunners three goals to the good.

Gabriel Jesus played a sumptuous ball through to Belgian following a counter-attack from a Crystal Palace corner. The former Brighton forward made no mistake from close range to end a ten-game goalless sequence.

There was still time for Arsenal to really make Crystal Palace squirm and it was Martinelli off the bench that put the icing on the cake. The Brazilian scored two almost identical stoppage-time goals to make it 5-0, propelling Arsenal back to within two points of table-toppers Liverpool.

For Roy Hodgson and his Palace side, it was an extremely bad day at the office. The vastly experienced coach took his first job in management six years before his counterpart of Saturday, Mikel Arteta, was even born. Hodgson was booed during the midweek FA Cup third-round replay defeat to Everton and the travelling Palace fans weren’t particularly enamoured with their manager after another loss on the road. The Eagles haven’t won a match away from home in any competition since the first weekend of November.

Could it be Hodgson’s last game in the dugout for the Eagles? Plenty online certainly thought so.