Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal (Mateta 16′, Ayew 24′, Zaha 74′)
SELHURST PARK — Arsenal’s winning run on the road was always going to come to an end at some point, but given the authoritative and mature manner by which Mikel Arteta’s side had ground out five successive away wins, few could have predicted it would come about in such shambolic circumstances.
Crystal Palace were magnificent and well-deserving of a handsome win that boosts their top-half chances and builds momentum towards an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. But they were up against the chaotic Arsenal of last season, not the composed version of this. It was a victory celebrated as much in N17 as it was in SE25; the north London derby is fast becoming a winner-takes-all clash for that fourth Champions League slot.
As Palace’s players basked in the spring sunshine following a 4-0 thrashing of Everton a fortnight ago, there was a sense that the international break had perhaps come at the wrong time. Instead, the players and supporters began as they left off, dizzying their opponents through sheer intensity on the pitch and raucous noise off it.
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Arsenal looked completely unprepared for the task at hand. Conor Gallagher was a red, blue and blonde blur, tearing around the Gunners’ jittery backline, Wilfried Zaha dazzling the unsuspecting Cedric Soares with his quick feet. Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale’s pinpoint kicking was a yard off, Ben White was transported back to that unhappy August debut in Brentford and the newly-prolific Thomas Partey was back to air-kicking speculative shots.
The only surprise when Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring was that it had not come sooner than the 14th minute. A loopy Gallagher free-kick hung in the air for what seemed an eternity before eventually coming down and bouncing off the back of Joachim Andersen’s head and into the path of Mateta who side-footed home.
Rather than jolt Arsenal into life, the goal simply invigorated an already energised Palace. Andersen completed an unlikely double-assist with a hopeful pass from defence that dribbled between Nuno Tavares and Gabriel Magalhaes into Jordan Ayew’s path. There was a split-second when Selhurst held its collective breath as the Ghanaian advanced but the striker renowned for his lack of goals finished with impressive assuredness.
Ramsdale, brought straight back into the starting XI after a hip issue, made an unconventional stop to keep the score down, shovelling a Mateta drive to safety after Zaha had bullied Cedric to the ball.
Gabriel Martinelli was summoned to help spark the rescue mission into life, replacing the forlorn Tavares, with Granit Xhaka shifting across to left-back. That suddenly appears to be a problem position for the Gunners, with Arteta ominously admitting pre-match that Kieran Tierney’s knee injury, sustained while playing for Scotland last week, is “not looking good”.
The change didn’t instigate an immediate upturn in fortune. Indeed, it was Ramsdale rather than Vicente Guaita who made the first save of the second half, holding onto an Andersen free-kick after the Dane had paced purposefully towards the ball accompanied by a theatrical thunder-clap from the Palace faithful.
Belatedly, a top-heavy Arsenal began to carve out chances. Emile Smith Rowe finished tamely inside the box after linking with Lacazette and moments later the usually dependable Odegaard scuffed a shot from one foot onto the other when unmarked inside the box. For the second time in the match, Arteta chucked on an attacker for a full-back, Eddie Nketiah brought on for Cedric who must have been relieved to see his number flash up.
Odegaard made a cleaner connection with his next significant moment of the match. Sadly for him, it was with Zaha’s left leg, rather than the ball. Zaha stepped up to take the penalty himself and duly dispatched it into the side netting, sending Ramsdale the wrong way and Selhurst Park into raptures.
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“We’ve got super Pat Vieira,” was sung with a touch more vigour than usual from the Palace faithful, an acknowledgement of the popular manager’s association with their opponents for the evening. It was a stunning night for him, less so for Arteta. With Antonio Conte’s Tottenham gathering momentum, Arsenal can ill-afford any more performances like this.
Player Ratings
Crystal Palace (4-3-3)
- Guaita – 6
- Clyne – 7
- Guehi – 8
- Andersen – 8
- Mitchell – 7
- Gallagher – 8
- Kouyate – 7
- Schlupp – 7
- Ayew – 7
- Zaha – 8
- Mateta – 7
Subs:
- McArthur – 6
Arsenal (4-3-3)
- Ramsdale – 6
- Cedric – 4
- White – 5
- Gabriel – 5
- Tavares – 4
- Odegaard – 4
- Partey – 5
- Xhaka – 5
- Saka – 5
- Smith Rowe – 5
- Lacazette – 5
Subs:
- Martinelli – 6
- Nketiah – 6
Tierney injury ‘does not look good’ admits Arteta
Arteta’s starting line-up has become increasingly predictable over recent months and so the absence of Kieran Tierney from the XI was noteworthy.
Shortly after announcing their starting line-up on Twitter, Arsenal issued a follow-up tweet confirming that the Scotland left-back was out due to a knee injury, with Arteta confirming the bad news before kick-off.
“He came back from international duty and felt something wrong in his knee,” Arteta said. “There is some damage there.
“We will hopefully know more on Tuesday but it is not looking good.”
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