James Olley details how Mikel Arteta gained his strength in coaching set pieces. (0:40)
LONDON -- These are the "magic moments" Mikel Arteta spoke of. That was how the Arsenal boss once described what Eberechi Eze could bring to his team and Sunday's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace was the day that prediction became a reality.
If there was one team who didn't need a reminder of the 27-year-old's talents, it was Palace. His five years at Selhurst Park climaxed with the winning goal in last season's FA Cup final, a dramatic intervention to settle a hard-fought game with a solitary goal.
But they were on the wrong end of it this time. Declan Rice swung over a 39th-minute free kick and the loose ball fell to Eze, who volleyed expertly into the corner; Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson did not move.
In a further twist of irony, the goal bore hallmarks of Eze's strike for Palace in last season's corresponding fixture: a 2-2 draw which did so much damage to Arsenal's Premier League title charge. Six months on and he produced the decisive contribution which sent Arsenal four points clear at the summit.
Was it, perhaps, a precise example of those "magic moments" Arteta identified in their £67.5 million acquisition? After all, Eze is being asked to offset the absence of Martin Ødegaard, the captain who stitches Arsenal's best football together.
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"Yes, 100%," Arteta said afterwards. "To strike the ball in the manner he did it. He did it very similarly last year but against us when he scored from that corner and directly on the post.
"So he's got the ability to do that. We know against a team that defend with that many bodies, so physical, don't allow any space, the No. 9 defending your best player, you have to generate chaos or open space at some moments to generate big chances. He took the ball and the goal really well.
"That's what big players do and he's certainly a big player and hopefully that's going to give him a big boost and confidence to generate many more moments like this, because they are the moments that sometimes defines a season."