Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace beat former club Arsenal to dent top-four hopes

Crystal Palace blew Arsenal away with a comprehensive 3-0 Premier League victory at Selhurst Park to dent the visitors’ top-four hopes and continue their own momentum under boss Patrick Vieira.

Results over the weekend had seen the Gunners leapfrogged by rivals Tottenham in the race for Champions League qualification and they were unable to respond on a night to forget for Mikel Arteta’s men.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew put the Eagles in control after 24 minutes and Wilfried Zaha’s second-half penalty added deserved gloss to the score for the hosts, who extended their unbeaten run to seven matches in all competitions and moved up to ninth in the table.

Arsenal had dropped down to fifth after Spurs’ win over Newcastle on Sunday, but they were boosted by the return of Aaron Ramsdale in south London following a minor hip injury.

Conor Gallagher’s pressing nearly forced the Gunners goalkeeper into an early mistake before Gabriel let the ball roll out for a throw, which only further lifted a home crowd on a high with a trip to Wembley on the horizon.

Palace had held Manchester City to a goalless draw three weeks ago and they made life difficult for the away side in the opening exchanges.

Chances remained few and far between initially but the deadlock was broken with the first threatening attack after 16 minutes.

A deep free-kick by Gallagher found Joachim Andersen at the far post, who directed the ball across goal for Mateta to head in from close range for his sixth goal of the campaign.

The home supporters were still revelling in Mateta’s latest kick of the corner flag celebration when they were on their feet again eight minutes later.

Andersen produced a trademark crossfield pass from the back and Ayew was able to