Arsenal strengthened their position at the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
An Eberechi Eze strike in the 39th minute was enough to land all three points, extending Arsenal’s winning streak to seven matches across all competitions, while they’ve won five and drawn one of their last six league outings.
For Palace, this is a continuation of a poor four-game winless streak, somewhat undoing their excellent early-season work.
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Eberechi Eze haunts Palace to ignite Arsenal career
There’s no doubt that Eze has been a positive signing for Arsenal. However, his effectiveness so far — prior to Sunday — has been rooted in creativity, ball-carrying and versatility, rather than raw effectiveness in the final third.
His only goal for the club had come in the EFL Cup against Port Vale, with his assist for Gabriel Martinelli in the last-gasp 1-1 draw against Man City in mid-September his most noteworthy moment.
That all changed on Sunday, with Eze dispatching a superb volley shortly before half-time to break the deadlock for Arsenal in what was proving to be a supremely frustrating afternoon against a stubborn opponent.
That opponent, of course, just so happened to be Eze’s former club. The one he clocked up 40 goals and 28 assists in 169 appearances for over five years, guiding them to FA Cup and Community Shield titles.
Goal aside, it was more classy, secure play on the ball from Eze, who played seven passes into the final third, won four of his six and avoided being dispossessed throughout the entire match. All of that added up to a very respectable Squawka Score of 67%.
But that was an exquisite strike and a great way to truly ignite his Arsenal career.
Eberechi Eze has arrived at the Emirates Stadium.
Boring, boring (but effective) Arsenal
While Arsenal are building momentum like a boulder rolling down a hill, they’re not blasting teams out of the way while doing so.
In fact, the Gunners have scored more than twice in a single game on just three occasions so far this season, and only once in their current seven-game winning run (4-0 vs Atletico Madrid).
It’s Mikel Arteta’s air-tight defence which is carrying them through at the moment, with this their fifth straight clean sheet across all competitions and 10th of the campaign overall.
Arsenal have let in just three goals in 13 games in 2025/26, and in all honesty, they don’t look remotely like conceding.
Crystal Palace took until the 70th minute to test David Raya on Sunday, meaning the Gunners missed out on becoming the second side in Premier League history to go three league games without facing a shot on target after Manchester City in 2014. However, they continue to comfortably lead the Premier League in most defensive metrics, including clean sheets, goals conceded, shots on target conceded, and xG against.
Gabriel was superb again, making six clearances and two blocks. Cristhian Mosquera was solid after replacing the injured William Saliba at half-time. Martin Zubimendi made 15 defensive contributions to mop up in front of the back four.
Arsenal are impenetrable at the moment in a way not seen since perhaps Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2004/05, and we all know what that team went on to achieve.
Arsenal press on as rivals falter
In the moment, this felt like a rather uneventful, routine win for Arsenal. Work the opposition, get the opening goal, then suffocate the life out of the match.
But in the context of the weekend as a whole, we may look back at this victory as the one that truly established Arteta’s side as champions-elect.
That’s because, while Arsenal helped themselves to another run-of-the-mill win, their biggest rivals faltered.
Defending champions Liverpool went down to a miserable 3-2 defeat away at Brentford on Saturday night — their fourth straight Premier League defeat that sees them slide to sixth in the table, seven points off the top.
And Manchester City also saw their five-game league unbeaten run brought to an end by Aston Villa, who beat them 1-0 in Birmingham thanks to a Matty Cash strike at the very same time Arsenal were keeping Palace at arm’s length. Pep Guardiola’s men are now fourth, six points adrift of Arsenal.
Between Arsenal and their two biggest title threats now sit surprise packages Bournemouth and Sunderland who, as impressive as they’ve been, surely cannot sustain a long-term tilt at the title.
If Liverpool and City aren’t careful, and Arsenal keep on winning so routinely, this title race could be over before it truly begins.