Gabriel Jesus scored his first home goals in a year as his hat-trick helped Arsenal come from behind to beat Crystal Palace and reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Palace looked capable of pulling off a shock when they took the lead with their first shot of the match – Jean-Philippe Mateta getting the better of Jakub Kiwior to score the opener.
Mikel Arteta made eight changes from the side that started their goalless draw with Everton at the weekend, with Kieran Tierney making his first Arsenal appearance since the 2023 Community Shield, but the players who came in did not largely have the desired effect.
Arteta, sensing that the game was slipping away from Arsenal, introduced captain Martin Odegaard and William Saliba at half-time.
They looked a different team – Raheem Sterling hitting the bar from close range after Henderson saved his initial effort – before Odegaard slipped an inch-perfect pass to Jesus, who controlled excellently before chipping the ball over Henderson to level the match.
Jesus then got his second of the match when he was played into the box by second-half substitute Bukayo Saka and he fired low into the bottom corner.
The forward looked marginally offside when he reacted to get on the end of Saka’s pass but, with no VAR until the next round, the strike stood.
The Brazilian completed his hat-trick when he again was found by Odegaard and drilled his shot past Henderson to win the game.
There was time for former Arsenal player Eddie Nketiah to grab a consolation goal, but Arsenal held firm to reach the last four.
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