Christian Benteke’s first goal in nearly a year contributed to a memorable 3-2 win over Arsenal at The Emirates.

Arsenal’s top four credentials took a blow from a Roy Hodgson side that punished poor defending with a similar scoreline to that famous win at Manchester City earlier in the season.

Benteke, Wilfried Zaha and James McArthur got on the scoresheet as Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck for the hosts.

Benteke Back?

Hodgson would’ve been delighted with his side’s start as his men soaked up pressure but looked dangerous going forward with Zaha and Meyer dictating.

Palace looked to be targeting the set-piece, and so they should as with Benteke, Scott Dann, Ward and Kelly, they had a clear aerial advantage.

On 12 minutes Palace should’ve been ahead but Ward somehow launched a Dann knockdown well over the bar from close range. It was a warning, a warning Arsenal didn’t listen to.

Five minutes later Palace did score, and it was from a set-piece.

Benteke waltzed through a gaping hole to powerfully head home Luka Milivojevic’s free kick to score his first goal in nearly a year.

Very poor marking from the Arsenal back-line, Shkodran Mustafi in particular.

Unai Emery’s men looked every bit a side who had played only three days ago as other than a Alexandre Lacazette effort that was superbly blocked by the impressive Kelly, they failed to test Vicente Guaita’s goal.

Palace should’ve been two up shortly before the break but a brilliant double save from goalkeeper Bernd Leno denied Cheikhou Kouyate and spared his slow reacting defenders’ blushes.

Instant Impact

Emery brought on Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles at the break and instantly it had an impact. Iwobi found Lacazette who’s reverse pass fooled everyone apart from Ozil who delicately clipped over Guaita to store parity.

As Arsenal looked dominant they hit the self-destruct button with more kamikaze defending on the hour.

Mustafi again the culprit as he allowed Zaha to get on to a flick-on and steer past Leno.

McArthur added a third nine minutes and again there’ll be question marks over the defending.

The Scotsman making amends for missing a golden opportunity moments earlier as he headed on Dann’s flick-on from a corner.

Aubameyang gave the home fans some hope with ten minutes to go as he took advantage of a fortuitous tackle to drill low past Guaita.

There will be questions as to how the Gabon striker was allowed to venture that far into the Palace half however.

Palace clung-on as Arsenal threw everything at them ion search for a late equaliser but Dann and Kelley remained solid as they saw the game out for another memorable away win.