Back on the winning trail

Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal

Arsenal bounced back from defeat against Borussia Dortmund with a hard fought victory against a determined Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Although on paper this may have appeared to be a relatively easy game for the Gunners, in truth it was a game in which Arsenal had everything to lose. Arsene Wenger’s side were expected to just turn up and steam roller their way past a team struggling at the foot of the table. As a result, there was great pressure on the Gunners, while Palace, with an impending new manager to impress and no expectation of a win, could relax somewhat.

Arsenal took the game to their hosts in the first ten minutes of the game, however with Palace sitting back, extremely deep, the Gunners were finding it difficult to play neat passes to open up the Palace defence. Yet as early as the third minute, they could have opened the scoring as Giroud’s headed effort, from Sagna’s cross, flew just over the bar. Had the Frenchman’s header nestled in the back of the net, the game would have taken on a completely different complexion, as an early Arsenal goal would have forced Palace out of their deep defensive lines and opened the game up.

However, as the first half wore on, the Gunners became more and more frustrated. They lacked the attacking fluidity which has been a key component of their excellent start to the campaign and consequently could only create half chances at best, while the home side began to grow in confidence. In fact Palace enjoyed a couple of long range efforts on goal, which forced Szczesny into action, before former Arsenal striker, Chamakh, wasted the best opportunity of the first period, completely mistiming his jump and missing out on the chance to head his new side in front, when completely unmarked in the six yard box. 

Having failed to score an early goal during the first period of the game, Arsene Wenger’s side made amends by opening the scoring within two minutes of the restart, thanks to a Mikel Arteta penalty. Serge Gnabry, who had been brought on within the first few minutes of the match to replace the injured Flamini, was hacked down inside the box by Guedioura, leaving the referee with no choice but to award the penalty. It was no less than Arsenal deserved having earlier been denied a penalty in the first half following another foul on Gnabry which the referee incorrectly ruled to have been committed outside the box.

Up stepped Arteta to curl home a perfectly placed shot inside the post to give the Gunners the lead. In truth the game should have been over from this point on. Arsenal should have been able to invite Palace onto them, before hitting their opponents on the break and extending their lead further. However, this was not to be the case, as a poor decision from the referee turned the game on its head in the 65^th minute. An Arsenal short corner was easily cleared up field, leaving Chamakh inexplicably isolated with Arteta on the halfway line, with no other Arsenal player in sight. As the two battled for the ball, their feet tangled together and both fell to ground. Chris Foy, ridiculously decided Arteta had denied Chamakh a clear goal scoring opportunity even though the Moroccan was closer to the half way line than the goal, and sent off the Arsenal captain.

With the Gunners now down to ten men, Palace grew in confidence and began to exert pressure on the Arsenal goal. The home side’s best opportunities coming within seconds of each other as Szczesny was forced into two world class saves to preserve the Gunners lead, first tipping an effort from Joel Ward onto the bar before thwarting Mile Jedinak with another excellent save from the resulting corner. It was somewhat impressive that having gone down to ten men and without the defensively influential Flamini, the Gunners still managed to prevent Palace from creating any clear cut opportunities and resolutely protected their clean sheet.

As Arsenal were preparing themselves for a final Palace onslaught, the visitors finally put the game to bed with only three minutes remaining. A ball up to Giroud was well controlled by the Frenchman, before he clipped a pass round the corner and into the path of the advancing Ramsey. As the Welshman advanced into the box, Giroud continued his run and was in the right place to head home Ramsey’s cross to secure all three points.

This was by no means Arsenal’s best performance this season, but the fact Wenger’s side managed to win the game, despite not playing well and having been reduced to ten men, does highlight the new found winning mentality within the team. Winning away at Selhurst Park was crucial in many ways as Arsenal now enter an extremely difficult period, facing all the top sides in the league as well as maintaining their quest to qualify for the next round of the Champions League. The Gunners capabilities are constantly being questioned and scrutinised by the media, but should they emerge from this period still within touching distance of the top of the Premier League, they will have proven their title credentials.