The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsArsenal ground out a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park with goals from Olivier Giroud and a Damien Delaney own goal, with Joel Ward replying for Alan Pardew’s side in the Barclay’s Premier League.
Both teams came into the game with different form as Palace had a comfortable away win at Norwich and Arsenal surprisingly lost to West Ham at home. The game begun at high tempo, with both teams looking to expose each others defenses early on.
Crystal Palace won a few early corners, but it was from their second corner where the first chance of the match came, Arsenal clearing their lines well and managing to break away smoothly catching Crystal Palace off guard. Giroud and Sanchez linked up well before Giroud played Sanchez in but the Chilean saw his effort cleared off the line by Delaney.
The first ten minutes of the half saw Arsenal with more than two thirds of the possession and starting to control the game. In the sixteenth minute Arsenal made the break through with a cleverly worked acrobatic finish from Giroud assisted by Ozil on the right hand side of the pitch. Arsenal should have doubled their lead in the twenty-fifth minute when Alexis Sanchez found himself unmarked in the area with a free header but the Chilean could only fire over the bar.
In the 28th minute and against the run of play Crystal Palace managed to get one back with a sweet driven shot outside the box from Joel Ward. Drilled into the bottom right hand corner it beat Cech easily and Crystal Palace were back into the game with Zaha’s delicate touch to set Ward up for the leveler.
Two minutes later and Palace were on the break, as Puncheon delivered a cross into the area for Zaha to meet, only to collide with Monreal, a huge roar around the ground was released as the home fans incorrectly thought it was a penalty, but replays showed that there was no contact.
As the first half drew to a close it was all Arsenal, following a break from a defended corner Palace broke away through the centre and Coquelin was cautioned after a lunge on Bolasie to prevent the break. On the stroke of half time Coquelin should have been sent off for another silly challenge, this time pushing Puncheon off the ball but Lee Mason decided against the second yellow. At half time the score was all level, 1-1.
Palace made a change during the interval removing Bolasie from the pitch and bringing on Jordan Mutch. The first few minutes of the half was a sloppy exchange both teams giving the ball away far to easily, and both managers were not happy with what they were seeing. Then come a moment of pure genius from Zaha, he outfought Monreal and whipped in a perfect ball for Connor Wickham to tuck home but only managed to rattle the bar. Wickham will have been disappointed that he couldn’t find the net to put Palace in front.
Then in the 55th minute Bellerin crossed the ball into the box from the right hand side and it was met with a Sanchez header who played it down into the box, which Delaney sticking a foot out and guiding it into the back of his own net. The centre back was unlucky, but Arsenal were in front once more.
In the 62nd minute Coquelin should have been off again for a needless foul outside of the Arsenal box. Lee Mason approached the player and told him it would be his last warning, within seconds of the foul being commited, Wenger wisely brought off Coquelin and replaced him with Oxlade- Chamberlain.
Arsenal were playing some slick football with half the team contributing only for Ramsey to fire over. Two more changes in the 74th minute, one a piece for both sides, as Arteta came on for Sanchez and Lee came on for Zaha. With the match drawing to a close Palace pressed well and efficient, trying to find a way back into the game. Palace’s last change was Bamford on for Mcarthur as they started to throw men forward. Ozil made way for Gibbs as Arsenal took a more defensive approach to see out the match.
Two late corners failed to trouble the Arsenal goal as they saw out the match as 1-2 winners. The match was very entertaining all throughout and Palace made Arsenal work hard for the points. At times Crystal Palace matched Arsenal and they had shown today that they really do mean business this season. The win registers Arsenal’s first points of the season ad they played great attacking football to take all three points back to the Emirates with them.
