Nacho Monreal, Alex Iwobi, Laurent Koscielny and even misfiring striker Alexandre Lacazette ripped a strangely subdued Palace defence to shreds and although the visitors rallied to see out the final three-quarters with pride and a late consolation from Luko Milivojevic, it was as good as Arsenal have been this season.

Now if Wenger can get his own return move for Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally over the line as he hopes to in the next 48 hours, then he has vowed to throw him into the mix as well.

All the time Wenger remains adamant that Mesut Ozil will see out his contract rather than follow Sanchez out of the exit this January. So with Jack Wilshere seemingly back to his Premier League self and Aaron Ramsey close to a return from injury, one cannot help but wonder where Wenger will accommodate the Armenia captain?

Wenger, though, was emphatic on the matter.

“How do I fit them in?,” he said. “I just play the good players. They can always play together. Today all the players we had on the pitch were attacking players. Iwobi, Ozil, Wilshere, Lacazette, Granit Xhaka – they are all offensive players.”

When pushed further, the Arsenal was rather more reticent about featuring Lacazette in the same side as his second transfer target, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

When asked if those two could play together, Wenger preferred not to speculate. The unspoken truth is the latter is likely to replace the former if a deal can be struck with Borussia Dortmund.

Wenger is not too obstinate to admit, though, that Sanchez’s departure will still leave a sizeable hole to fill.

“We have tried to find the best possible solution and the best possible solution is that we lose a world class player – I don’t deny that at all,” said the Arsenal manager. “But we did not lose him without getting somebody after. The future will tell if it was the right decision or not.

“There is always life. Arsenal Football Club is 130 years old and many big players have left. Will it go a bit less good? We will see. But there is always life afterwards.”

Palace, on the other hand, have been losing players through injury rather than sales. Yohan Cabaye was the latest victim, taken off on a stretcher with an Achilles injury.

Increasingly, it is focusing the glare more and more on Wilfried Zaha and Palace manager Roy Hodgson believes the winger is suffering from what has been a somewhat unkind light after he won a somewhat soft penalty against Manchester City at the end of last year.

“I won’t call it a campaign, but so much written and said, in particular after the Manchester City game that of course we’re concerned about it,” said Hodgson.

“I think it’s unfair. I thought there were several occasions today when he was fouled and unbalanced and we didn’t get the free-kicks, but there’s no point complaining.

“However, it’s all very well for me to stand here and say, ‘You’ve got to put up with that,’ but it’s very difficult when you are on the field – people are emotional beings.

“If you know you are not cheating in any way, and you are actually being fouled or unbalanced in an unfair way, it’s hard.

“We should perhaps be quite pleased that Wilf Zaha is doing so well that he’s creating so much attention. Obviously people are concerned about him.”