Olivier Giroud started 2017 with a wonder goal as Arsenal marked their 200th league game at the Emirates with an efficient 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
The Frenchman worked tirelessly throughout the game and his moment of brilliance in the first half proved decisive as his scissor kick went in off the underside of the bar.
Alex Iwobi added to Arsenal's lead in the second half, while Petr Cech made a string of quick-fire saves at the other end to ensure a clean sheet for the hosts, who moved up to third in the table.
Arsenal started brightly with Alexis Sanchez and Mohamed Elneny both seeing their efforts put behind for a corner inside the opening seven minutes.
Sanchez shot just wide from outside the box before Iwobi saw his low strike saved by Wayne Hennessey in the Palace goal.
Then the wonder goal came! With 17 minutes on the clock Arsenal hit Palace on the break, with Giroud involved at the start of the moving before later charging forward into the box to meet Sanchez's cross with a sublime scissor kick. In fact it was more like a crazy back flick volley. Either way, it was a great goal and great way to start 2017.
It was very nearly 2-0 for Arsenal soon after when Andros Townsend gave the ball away inside his own box, but he was bailed out by Hennessey as the goalkeeper came out to get the ball from Nacho Monreal's feet.
Palace offered very little going forward and it took the visitors 37 minutes to have any shot, either on or off target, as Yohan Cabaye's effort was saved by Cech.
Arsenal threatened to add to their lead in first-half stoppage time, but Hennessey produced a fine saved with his feet to keep out Sanchez.
All of the Gunners' hard work was nearly undone within two minutes of the restart, but Christian Benteke headed just wide when it looked easier to have scored.
Arsenal soon resumed control of the game, but were initially unable to add to their lead as Sanchez saw his shot blocked by the defence before Elneny sent a volley well over the bar.
For all Arsenal's dominance, 1-0 is always a dangerous scoreline so it was a big relief to see the second goal go in after 57 minutes. Sanchez passed through to Monreal, whose cross was blocked up in the air and Iwobi reacted quickest to head the ball over two players on the goal-line and into the net.
Arsenal were in cruise control, but it could have been different had Cech not produced a string of quick-fire saves to keep out Benteke, Cabaye and Townsend within a matter of minutes.
The hosts tried to add to their lead with Granit Xhaka's low shot being deflected wide for a corner before substitute Aaron Ramsey shot wide. Fellow substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain very nearly added Arsenal's third, but his low shot was excellently kept out by Hennessey.
It was an efficient and solid display by Arsenal and, although we probably should have scored more, we did what mattered and got the three points to start 2017 in style.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Father and son duo Ian and Chris Williams are hoping Palace boss Sam Allardyce will bolster his squad with some much-needed new faces in the January transfer window.
"Even the most optimistic Palace fan would have predicted an Arsenal win today," said the duo. "Confidence within the squad is low, and it is now only one win in the last 13 Premier League games and a total of 35 goals conceded this season. Big Sam has a big transfer window ahead of him.
"Priority is to strengthen the defence, at the very least we need another option at centre-back and a left-back (Pape Souare out for the season).
"We’ve only got two fit strikers in the squad, so that’s another position that needs bolstering. Losing Wilf Zaha (our best player this season) for a number of games due to the Africa Cup of Nations will be a massive blow, we need Andros Townsend to step up.
"Tuesday’s game against managerless Swansea is a must win. Journalists and pundits continue to say this Palace team is too good to go down, but they are definitely in a relegation fight."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
There are no guarantees in the Premier League, but I'd rather have our next few fixtures than Chelsea's, so we need to make it count! We are now up to third and three points behind Liverpool and nine off leaders Chelsea.
Chelsea are clearly the in-form team and will take some stopping, but if we can win at Bournemouth in our next game and Chelsea drop points against Spurs you never know.
I'm not going to get carried away as I still think Chelsea will win the league and nine points is a lot of ground to make up, but at least we have ensured a positive start to 2017 and we must just focus on our own games and see what happens!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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