Two sublime finish from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was enough to take Arsenal back to the top of the EPL standing as they defeat Crystal Palace 2-0 at the Emirate, while they await the result of the match between Manchester City and Chelsea on Monday Night.
The fit again England international scored his first goal of the game two minutes into the second half and his second later in the half as he skipped past the Palace defence after an excellent exchange of passes initiatited Rosicky.
After dropping two valuable points against Southampton in mid-week, Arsene Wenger knew they had to win the days game to stand a chance of fighting for the tittle, so he named an attacking lineup, fielding Chamberlain to fill in for suspended Mathieu Flamini, and Podolski.
The Gunners dominated possession but Palace defended resolutely. Palace goal Keeper, Julian Speroni had to be at his best to prevent the host from taking the lead in the first half - Nacho Monreal’s shot was superbly saved by Speroni,s leg before he pulled another spectacular save with a full stretch to keep Laurent Koscielny’s flick from a 25yard freekick from going in.
The Gunners however broke the deadlock just after the start; Santi Cazorla picked up the ball on the right and played a left footed, perfectly-weighted pass into the penalty area for Oxlade-Chamberlain to chip over the outrushing Sparoni for his first goal of the season.
Palace responded well putting pressure on Arsenals defence and came very close but Wojciech Szczesny did very well to prevent Cameron Jerome's low header at the near post from going into the net.
Lukas Podolski should have extended Arsenals lead but he shot into the side net from a tight angle. On 73 minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain got his second for the day as substitute, Tomas Rosicky, who is just returning from a broken nose injury played a pass to Chamberlain who then played a neat one-two with Olivier Giroud, outpaced the Palace defence and shot home to secure the win.
The win takes Arsenal to 55points two more than second placed Manchester City who has a date with Chelsea, Monday night at the Ethihad stadium.
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