Rampant Arsenal put four past Palace to end winless run

Arsenal got off to a great start at the Emirates with a 4-1 win against Crystal Palace as they prepare for life without Alexis Sanchez.

Which was precisely the time it took for the home side to ease into a four goal lead against their sorry visitors from south London before Luka Milivojevic grabbed a late consolation for the Eagles.

The Gunners lacked the cutting edge in the attacking department amid the absence of both Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in the previous outing, and the latter appears on the cusp of joining rivals Manchester United with a deal close to being finalised.

Monreal was subbed out before half time after suffering a reaction to his recent injury, while Palace nearly pulled a goal back just before half time but Wilfried Zaha's shot was tipped wide by Petr Cech.

Monreal turned provider for Alex Iwobi before Laurent Koscielny scored Arsenal's third goal.

In the 34th minute, Maitland-Niles came on to replace the injured Momreal.

Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 3-2 in last month's corresponding fixture.

After their encouraging goalless draw against league leaders, Manchester City, Roy Hodgson's troops have won back to back league games, against Southampton and Burnley and thus, they are certainly a side against whom Wenger can not afford to be complacent.

Arsenal went ahead early as Granit Xhaka's corner found Monreal at the back post and the Spanish defender marked his return to the team with a fine header. 1-0.

The 22nd minute saw an exceptional piece of intricate team play around the penalty box to make it four for Arsenal, a clever one-touch interchange between Jack Wilshere and Ozil opened up the space in the box for Lacazette to curl a routine effort beyond a hapless Wayne Hennessey.

City, however, will restore their 12-point lead if, following a 4-3 defeat by Liverpool last week that ended their unbeaten league run, they beat struggling Newcastle in Saturday's late kick-off at the Etihad.