Arsenal opened up a commanding eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with an ultimately comfortable 4-1 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for the Gunners, producing a fine left-footed finish after pouncing on a low cross from Bukayo Saka.

The latter doubled the hosts' advantage after a clever and perfectly-weighted pass from Ben White had opened up the Palace defence.

Granit Xhaka latched onto a ball from Leandro Trossard to make it 3-0 early in the second half and although the manager-less visitors pulled one back through Jeffrey Schlupp, Saka struck again to seal victory.

 It may have been a routine win in the end but Arteta was as animated as ever on the sidelines. The changes he made to his starting line-up ensured that there would be no hangover from Thursday's shock Europa League exit.