This was almost the perfect way for Mikel Arteta to celebrate five years as Arsenal manager. Another two goals for Gabriel Jesus – his first in the Premier League since January – followed up his match-winning performance against the same opponents a few days ago as Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and the substitute Declan Rice with his first league goal of the season rounded off another ­victory over Crystal Palace.

Only the sight of Bukayo Saka limping off during the first half with a suspected hamstring injury could dampen the enthusiasm of the travelling fans, whose side have scored five or more goals in six away games in all competitions in 2024 – the most ever by an English top-flight club in a calendar year. More importantly, they are now only three points behind the leaders, Liverpool – albeit having played two games more. But with Manchester City six points behind Arsenal and almost a speck of dust in their rear-view mirror, Arteta will know they have never had a better chance to go all the way after clinically ­dispatching Oliver Glasner’s side.

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“At the moment we are not there yet and they have a few games in hand,” Arteta said. “It’s so difficult for any team to win but anything can happen. We want to put our noses right in there and compete in the way that we are and let’s see what happens.”

Before the game Arteta had said Jesus “deserves to play” after his hat-trick heroics in the Carabao Cup and it took only six minutes for him to repay that faith. While Arteta made seven changes as Havertz shifted to midfield, Glasner rotated his defence after they were outclassed in the second half of Wednesday’s quarter-final defeat, with Trevoh Chalobah dropped in favour of Chris Richards – the first time in 12 matches that Palace have changed their back three. They were all over the place when Saka swung over a cross and Tyrick Mitchell could not prevent Jesus slamming home from close range when the ball fell kindly at his feet.

Mitchell made amends when his pass set up Ismaïla Sarr for the equaliser, although it was more down to the Senegal forward as he left Thomas Partey in his dust and curled a sumptuous shot past David Raya to follow up his two goals against Brighton last Sunday.

Palace had received praise for the way they coped with Arsenal’s threat from set pieces in midweek. But Nathaniel Clyne was caught napping during a corner to the back post, which allowed Partey to set up Jesus, and the finish past Dean Henderson was unerring. A rare mistake from William Saliba should have resulted in a second equaliser for Palace, but somehow Raya clawed away Jean‑Philippe Mateta’s effort.

There were more than a few frowns on the bench when Saka, who injured his hamstring on England duty in October, pulled up after a burst down the right flank and had to be replaced by Leandro Trossard. “He will have to be assessed but we are pretty worried,” admitted Arteta, who was without Raheem Sterling after he was injured in training. “To lose two in 24 hours is not good. With the amount of games we are playing it doesn’t surprise me but the team will react to it.”

Jesus came close to completing another hat-trick after Maxence Lacroix had gifted him the ball, with Gabriel’s header from the resulting corner smacking off the bar. Palace’s relief was only temporary, however, as Jesus headed a cross from Martinelli against a post and Havertz tapped in, having been played onside by the dozing Mitchell. No wonder Glasner looked far from happy as he trudged down the tunnel at the break. “If you want to beat a team like Arsenal ­everything has to be almost perfect,” he said.

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With the former Palace forwards Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha both watching on in the stands, Sarr was thwarted again by Raya when he followed up Mateta’s piledriver. Arteta responded by introducing Rice and Riccardo Calafiori and, as they had on Wednesday, his substitutions made an instant impact. There was a suspicion of offside against Jesus when he was picked out by Trossard’s cross, but Martinelli was on hand to stab home Rice’s shot on the rebound to crush any hopes the home supporters may have had of a comeback.

Daichi Kamada had started in place of the injured Eberechi Eze but could not impose himself on proceedings, and he looked less than impressed to make way for Eddie Nketiah, who had a goalscoring impact off the bench against his former club in midweek. This time it was Rice who rounded off the scoring, when he curled home from Calafiori’s pass to confirm Arsenal’s dominance.