Arsenal have secured a narrow 2-1 win away at Crystal Palace in their Premier League clash at Selhurst Park.
Both sides played a high-tempo game and fashioned a number of chances in the early stages.
The deadlock was broken by the visitors just after the quarter-hour mark when Mesut Ozil's cross from the left was acrobatically by Giroud from 16 yards out.
It was all Arsenal from then on as Alexis Sanchez caused havoc with a shot-cum-cross in the 24th minute, with Alex McCarthy's save nearly falling to Giroud on the rebound before being cleared.
Against the run of play, however, the Eagles equalised in stunning fashion when James McArthur's layoff was met by Ward, who unleashed a ferocious low drive from 25 yards that flew past Petr Cech and into the Gunners net.
Palace's momentum led to further forays into the opposition box and, just after the half-hour mark, Wilfried Zaha tumbled in the penalty area under the challenge of Nacho Monreal, leading to penalty appeals that were turned down.
With time running out in the first half, Ozil's low cross from the left was flicked goalwards by Ramsey, but McCarthy acrobatically flung himself to his left to parry the subsequent shot away.
Palace made a great start to the second half as Zaha drilled in a low cross from the right two minutes after the restart, where home debutant Connor Wickham smashed the ball against the post from close range.
Arsenal countered through a slick move which cut through the hosts' defence and finished with a low cross from Ramsey that was frantically cleared with Ozil waiting to tap home.
Five minutes before the hour, Arsene Wenger's charges were back in front, thanks to Hector Bellerin's cross which was met by Sanchez and deflected off Damien Delaney into the Palace net.
Both side continued to drive forward in a bit to add to their respective tallies, with Jason Puncheon marauding into the Arsenal box and forcing a save from Cech and Ramsey firing over from Ozil's deft flick-on.
The Gunners looked comfortable right until the latter stages when a late Palace rally saw Jordon Mutch and Ward threaten Cech's goal, but the hosts couldn't scrape a second equaliser as their opponents finished the game with all three points.
Giuseppe Labellarte
