Arsene Wenger compared Olivier Giroud’s finish with the finest scored by Arsenal greats Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp after it inspired their 2-0 defeat of Crystal Palace.

Meeting Alexis Sanchez’s 17th-minute cross with a masterful scorpion kick that gave them the lead, Giroud’s stylish strike was of the calibre rarely achieved by predecessors such as Henry, Bergkamp and Robin van Persie, and may prove to be the goal of the season.

“He transformed that goal into art,” said Wenger.

“Art, because of the surprise, because of the beauty of the movement; the efficiency of the movement.

“That will be remembered as the Giroud goal that nobody will forget. Every striker is remembered for one or two or three special goals, and that will certainly remain with him forever. People come to games to see these kind of goals.

“I’ve been spoilt in my career because I’ve had many great players and many great strikers, and that is certainly in the top five (goals from an Arsenal player).”

Asked of the others in his top five, the Arsenal manager responded: “I remember Bergkamp, Henry, with special goals. Bergkamp at Leicester, Newcastle; Henry at Real Madrid, against Liverpool. (Nwan-kwo) Kanu at Chelsea...

“It’s difficult in a second to get the best five.

“Maybe what’s not acknowledged by people, maybe even by me, is that Olivier scores important goals. He scored at Manchester United with a special header, against West Bromwich Albion in the 86th minute.”

Alex Iwobi’s second-half header secured all three points to ensure Arsenal remain in the top four of the league standings and left struggling Palace in the drop zone.

Ahead of today’s fixture with Bournemouth and the second half of the season there was also little question the Gunners are rediscovering their momentum and belief.

“Overall, we always looked dangerous,” Wenger added.

“The only frustration was that we didn’t kill the game off early enough. When you’re 1-0, 2-0, you’re always under threat from a team like Crystal Palace.”

Palace recovery

Defeat leaves new Palace manager Allardyce with one point from his opening two games, and makes today’s home fixture with Swansea City increasingly important.

“We’ve been dealt the blow of not having enough recovery time,” he said.

“Swansea played on Saturday, have 24 hours on us. They’re such big games with so much at stake.

“I was disappointed with our first-half performance against Arsenal.

“We gave much too good possession away. None more so than the (Giroud) goal. That was simple possession given away on one of our attacks in the first half.

“It was a brilliant piece of skill, how he took the goal, but our passing was not good enough.”