Crystal Palace 0 Arsenal 1
Since Roy Hodgson returned for his second stint as Crystal Palace manager, The Eagles have remained unbeaten at Selhurst Park. With Arsenal the visitors, the veteran manager knew that this record would be tested, as much as Mikel Arteta knew this game would be viewed as whether his side have the minerals to challenge for the Premier League title.
The Gunners dominated the early stages of the game and the hosts struggled to get out of their own half, let alone retain possession. Hodgson would have known that counter-attacking football was their best tactic against a side who are always going to have the ball far more than you do.
When they managed to break out for the first time in the game, the visitors looked stretched defensively, as Ayew got down the flank and drilled the ball across goal with Saliba having to clear it behind for a corner. Arteta’s side seemed to be getting more joy attacking down the right flank, with both Odgaard and Partey supporting Saka. Palace were really struggling to deal with the overload of players.
As the visitors dispossessed the hosts, it was stabbed towards Nketiah on the edge of the box. He rolled his marker and darted into the box, looking to slot it passed Johnstone in the Palace goal, only to see his effort rebound back off the far post.
Credit: @Arsenal
Odegaard and Rice linked up to send Nketiah through again, but from a tight angle, he tried to lift the ball over the Palace keeper and missed the target completely. The Norwegian midfielder then had the chance to let rip from outside the box himself, forcing Johnstone into a full-stretch save to tip the ball over the crossbar.
At the break, the sides were level, but the visitors would have felt that they had more than enough chances to break the deadlock and would need to be more clinical in the second half. Arsenal had a free-kick some way out but the vision of Declan Rice spotted a run by Eddie Nketiah that the Crystal Palace defence had not tracked. As the keeper came racing out to meet him, the striker took the ball around him and Johnstone brought him down.
VAR reviewed the decision and were happy with the onfield decision, for a change, although the only concern was a potential foul in the build-up. It was a great run by Nketiah and there was no doubt that Johnstone made contact with the striker.
Partey did seem to obstruct two Palace defenders from tracking the run of the Arsenal striker but the chances of VAR overturning a referee’s decision this season was about as slim as Chelsea giving a manager a gold carriage clock to commemorate 10 years’ service.
Martin Odegaard stepped up for the spot kick, sent Johnstone the wrong way and stroked it into the bottom corner. Once The Gunners went ahead, the game seemed unlikely to go any way but to the North Londoners. Tomiyasu was then shown a yellow card for timewasting when taking a throw-in. A new one for us to see but with the new Premier League directives, nothing is of surprise anymore.
Arsenal came on the attack again and Nketiah laid it off to Partey who shot from outside the box but it seemed to be a routine save for Johnstone, until he decided to swipe it away like he had seen a wasp up in his face.
Credit: @Arsenal
Havertz then went close when he tried a volley from a tight angle towards the edge of the box but the effort was never troubling Johnstone as it flashed passed the far post. Then came the most bizarre moment of the game. The ball was played out wide, over the head of both Arsenal and Crystal Palace player. As Ayew turned Tomiyasu, he went to ground to suggest he had been pulled back by the full back.
The referee awarded a free kick, despite the replay showing there was minimal if any contact and produced a second yellow card. Arteta was raging by the time the official had followed it up with the expected red card. Rightly or wrongly, we now had a game on our hands as Crystal Palace were to have a man advantage for the remaining 23 minutes of the game.
Eze then wove his way in between Rice and Partey in the box and went to ground looking for a penalty. While the incident was reviewed by VAR, again they agreed with the referee that it was not a penalty.
What was more interesting is that when he went down Partey immediately waved his hand around demanding the player be booked, yet there was no card for the Arsenal player. Two games in and we cannot even get any consistency from officials on their own new directives. Groan.
Crystal Palace continued to huff and puff in search of a goal but it was more like the big bad wolf finding that the fourth pig had a house built of a reinforced marble.
A big win for Mikel Arteta’s side, for many reasons, and to come away from Selhurst Park with all three points was a huge positive for the Spaniard. They will have tougher tests this season but this seemed some form of a statement to those who didn’t think they were strong enough to mount a title challenge.
Did you enjoy this article? Please share to your social media. With one click you can help spread the word and make Solid at the Back the one-stop shop for all Premier League fans.