The Premier League title race took another huge twist in the build-up to Christmas with Gabriel Jesus elevating Arsenal to new heights as Erling Haaland hit rock bottom with Manchester City.

The champions and runners-up of the past two English top-flight campaigns were bound to do battle again this season. That has been the case, though approaching the halfway point in the season at Christmastime the picture is far from what Arsenal expected.

Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for Mikel Arteta's group as they completed a 5-1 rout of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

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They will recognise the task is far from complete, with the race resuming quickly after December 25th. Here, football.london rounds up the latest news surrounding Arsenal.

Gabriel Jesus heroics

Put into the starting XI for Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final vs Crystal Palace, Jesus responded by scoring a hat-trick.

Arteta kept faith in his No.9 and once again it proved the correct decision as he scored a further two at Selhurst Park, bringing his total to five strikes this week against the Eagles.

Also promising in last night's match was the fact Jesus took more touches of the ball in the penalty area than he had done throughout the entirety of the season beforehand.

If the Gunners are going to find a clinical central goalscorer, the Brazilian has given them hope without dipping into the January transfer market.

Taking to social media after the final whistle, Jesus had a simple message for his followers. "God is wonderful," accompanied with the heart and praying emojis.

His impressed teammates responded in the comment section to further boost his confidence. William Saliba wrote: "What a player," followed by fire emojis, whilst Declan Rice added: "Special."

Erling Haaland's own verdict

On the same day the Gunners experienced glory, Manchester City continued their rotten run. Pep Guardiola's side made it one win in 12 outings via a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

It is a result that leaves sixth-place Man City trailing third-place Arsenal by six points after 17 rounds of football - a real turn up for the books in this season's title scrap.

Supporters will remember when the two rivals met at the Etihad Stadium in September, drawing 2-2 that day with Erling Haaland that day telling Arteta to 'stay humble' at full time.

Well, without a goal in three matches and knocked off the top of this season's scoring charts, the Norwegian had to humble himself with a scathing self-reflection after the Villa match.

"It's not good enough. It's not good enough from me," he told TNT Sports directly after the game. "It's difficult to come here but we're Man City, we should be out there. We have to continue, we have to believe and we have to keep working hard."