Mikel Arteta hails 'beauty' of Arsenal's set pieces against Crystal Palace as Gunners boss calls on William Saliba and Gabriel to score more goals

Arsenal bombarded the Palace penalty area with wicked deliveries and towering headers to break a feeble defence. Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhaes leaped highest on two occasions to put his side ahead by a couple of goals. The Brazilian powered in a header after 11 minutes before another effort deflected off Dean Henderson and in to put the Gunners out of sight. A swift counter following a defensive corner saw Leandro Trossard make it three before Gabriel Martinelli scored a late brace to round off the five-star performance.

Speaking to the press after the game, Arteta said: "The reality is we worked set-pieces less in the last week than all other aspects of the game. This is the beauty of it, we worked on a lot of things that happened and we trained them a lot.

"Absolutely [I want more goals from defenders] and [Gabriel's] got the ability and timing. Deliveries have been consistent and good as well, there are others like [William Saliba] that have the capacity to score more goals. We don’t have a 30, 40 goals on someone, we have to share them and that’s a good quality in the team."

The Gunners have been criticised for their lack of cutting edge in the final third, yet lead the division in headed goals with 10. Arsenal have been imperious in both boxes from set-pieces and their aerial dominance showed against Palace. Arteta will be further delighted that Martinelli was also able to add to his tally having struggled to match the performance levels of his 15-goal season last term.

Arsenal have to wait until January 30 for their next game when they travel to Nottingham Forest. The Gunners stumbled over the Christmas period to leave them off the pace at the top, but will aim to rectify a poor period with victory over Forest before hosting league leaders Liverpool.