Well now, that turned out to be a very Arsenal-friendly weekend in the end, eh? Perhaps not the ‘perfect’ weekend, as the Scum still won, but good enough that we can look at the table after nine games and see three defeats for City and four for Liverpool, who sit six and seven points off us respectively.

And as expected, yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Palace was as tightly contested as it could be, against a very well-organised and well-drilled Palace outfit. They are no mugs and as we saw with their shape, movement and ability to close their grip on tight spaces in and around the penalty box, we found it slim pickings. Saka got barely any change all game. Trossard was lively but relatively ineffective. Gyokeres didn’t have a sniff all match and we huffed and puffed without looking like we were going to break through a Crystal Palace back five that came to frustrate and hit us on the transitional counter.

The good thing about us, though, is that our defensive back line is water-tight and I’ve seen a stat online that suggested that Palace had just 0.09xG in that first half. We were restricted too, however, with just 0.11xG, but the difference was that we found the back of the net first and I think when that happens, we bet on the reliability of our back line to just not concede goals. I was saying to the lads in the pub beforehand that I didn’t want to say it out loud last weekend for fear of it coming back to bite me on the arse, but as soon as we scored against Fulham, in my head I said to myself “that’s it – that should be enough” and yesterday, after Eze had struck his first goal in the Premier League against his former club (more on that in a sec), I had that same feeling. The only difference this time was there was a fair bit more of the match to go, but despite that factor, we never really gave Palace too much of a sniff in a game that was just snuffed out after Arsenal went ahead.

And on the goal itself, that’s the kind of goal you expect Eze to score and that’s why we paid the big bucks for him. A fantastic scissor kick volley into the net following a knock down on a free kick. Set Piece Again Ole Ole as the saying goes…

The Palace fans must have known it would be him to come back to haunt them. It was almost like it was pre-destined to be this game that he got his first Palace goal. Having seen van Persie’s, Anelka’s, Adebayor’s and others come back to haunt us over the years, I feel your pain Palace fans, but I’m afraid this was a day in which sentiment cannot be afforded to any other team, so getting those three points by any means necessary was crucial for us this weekend. It’s a big goal scored for Eze too, which has some significance about it too, I would wager. It’s all very well scoring the fifth of a six-goal victory, but when you are the match-winner, the goal holds more importance and as a player you probably take more joy and confidence from it. That’s certainly what I’m hoping and at a time in which we are missing our captain and key creative midfield output, Eze has delivered for us. Good jobs.

In terms of the game itself, there isn’t really a ton of stuff to talk about, because it felt like a cagey one in which both defences cancelled out the attacks. I’ve already mentioned that our front three didn’t really get a sniff, but neither did Mateta, Pino or Sarr; it was one for the back lines and when the final whistle went it was smiles all around as we find ourselves four points clear at the top of the league.

There was some slightly worrying news from the end of it, with Saliba coming off at halftime for Mosquera, plus Calafiori apparently took a knock, along with Martinelli in that second half. Arteta said afterwards that he’s not sure on any of them and they’ll all have to be assessed, but one would suspect that none will now be involved against Brighton in a few short days time. The good news is that we can easily rotate those players out and bring in some quality players too; Hincapie came on yesterday, Mosquera played the second half and did well, so I think we have cover there. On Wednesday we could have a back five of Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, MLS and I think most of us would be happy with that. In midfield I think I read somewhere that Declan felt a little discomfort and so that’s another one that I think we need to rotate, but with the ability to bring in Norgaard, Merino and Nwaneri into the midfield three, I don’t think it’s too much of an issue. If these injuries are more serious and are going to result in extended absences for longer than a few days, then perhaps we need to worry, with Burnley coming up on the horizon, but for now we can only go off what Arteta said in the post-match press conference and that’s not too much.

And so we march on with another victory, another clean sheet, another weekend in which rivals faltered and I’m looking at that Premier League table and, boys and girls, it’s looking pretty tasty I have to tell you. Seven wins, one draw, one defeat, playing well, scoring goals, not conceding them, with a pretty tasty goal difference, truth be told. We’ve conceded three goals all season and those goals have been from a wonder free kick, Haaland, then a Woltemade set piece up at Newcastle. That can’t be too bad.

James and I will be doing a pod tonight at 8pm on the Same Old Arsenal pod so if you fancy joining us then you’ll be able to do so here. Other than tat, I’ll catch you all tomorrow.