We made it seven wins in a row in all competitions by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at Emirates Stadium, to stretch our lead at the top of the Premier League table to four points.

Ebere Eze came back to haunt his former club with a stunning winner in the first half, but what were the other reasons we managed to hold onto an important victory? Adrian Clarke has gone through the footage and stats to uncover why we squeezed past the Eagles.

patience required

Under the expert guidance of Oliver Glasner, Crystal Palace are one of the best out-of-possession sides in the Premier League, and they made life awkward for us in a tactical affair.

Applying a total of 492 pressures, they rarely let the man on the ball settle, successfully blocking off passing lanes into our forward players early on.

Enjoying just five first half touches inside the Palace box, they contained us with an extremely well early on.

These examples show how solid their shape was, and it explains why we had to make a lot of sideways passes.

Our first half XG was just 0.11, and it wasn’t until the...