Premier League: Sanchez is hardly missed in Arsenal's win over Palace; Martial rescues United

London, January 20: Arsenal shrugged off the impending departure of Alexis Sanchez by scoring four times in the first 22 minutes en route to a 4-1 hammering of Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Match stats" title="Chelsea win big | Match stats" />Chelsea win big | Match stats

The Chile international appears set to make the switch to Premier League rivals Manchester United, who are reportedly ready to pay £35million plus Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the forward's services.

For the second straight game, Arsene Wenger left Sanchez out of his matchday squad and the Frenchman seems poised for a pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a replacement after Borussia Dortmund confirmed the Gunners had made a bid, thought to be in the region of €50m.

But whatever Arsenal's comings and goings before the end of the January window, they were certainly not short of firepower at Emirates Stadium as a sorry Palace were swept aside in a devastating opening.

500 - Alexandre Lacazette's strike was @Arsenal's 500th in the Premier League scored by French players (excluding own goals). Magnifique.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 20, 2018

Nacho Monreal capitalised on shambolic defending to score the first and then tee up the next two for Alex Iwobi and Laurent Koscielny before the returning Mesut Ozil, back after missing three games with a knee injury, played a key role in Alexandre Lacazette's marvellous fourth.

Luka Milivojevic's consolation came far too late to cause any Arsenal nerves and victory sees Wenger's men bring their five-match winless streak - since a 3-2 success at Palace in which Sanchez scored twice - to a resounding end and move within two points of fifth-placed Tottenham, who visit Southampton on Sunday.

27 - Since the start of last season, Arsenal have scored 27 headed goals in the Premier League, more than any other team. Nut.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 20, 2018

United's lacklustre win

Elsewhere, a superb strike from Anthony Martial early in the second half was enough to give Jose Mourinho's side a fourth victory in a row in all competitions, despite a lacklustre overall display.

Stats

14 - David de Gea has kept more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s big five leagues this season (14). Reliable.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 20, 2018

The goal, Martial's ninth in the league this season, was the highlight of a game low on quality and sent a timely reminder to manager Jose Mourinho ahead of the suspected arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.

United fought back to claim a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture in December and they looked similarly out-of-sorts for much of the contest at Turf Moor, in which they managed no shots on target until Martial's 54th-minute strike.

Saturday's Premier League results

Brighton 0 - 4 Chelsea

West Ham 1 - 1 Bournemouth

Everton 1 - 1 West Brom

Burley 0 - 1 Manchester United

Leicester City 2 - 0 Watford

Stoke City 2 - 0 Huddersfield

Arsenal 4 - 1 Crystal Palace

Source: OPTA