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- Crystal Palace hosted in-form Arsenal at Selhurst Park in a Monday night kick-off.
- The first half ended 0-0 as the gunners dominated possession but Palace threatened on the counter.
- Nketiah won a penalty early in the second half which Odegaard converted, but Tomiyasu’s red meant Arsenal had to dig in for a 1-0 win.
Crystal Palace player ratings: Eze eludes Arsenal
Contents
Sam Johnstone 4.5/10: Conceded the penalty from which the gunners took the lead, made a few routine saves but didn’t have much to do otherwise.
Joel Ward 5.5/10: Had a tough time against Martinelli’s pace, but did well to cover his area when defending deep.
Tyrick Mitchell 6/10: Struggled to cope with Saka and Odegaard doubling up, made some good forward surges however.
Marc Guehi 6.5/10: Solid performance at the back, Nketiah stole a march on him a few times but he recovered well.
Joachim Andersen 6.5/10: Classy on the ball, was crucial in keeping 10-man gunners back with his passing.
Jefferson Lerma 6.5/10: Covered a lot of ground, put in the shift to neutralize Arsenal’s midfield superiority but was limited technically.
Jordan Ayew 6/10: Looked to run at defenders with pace, made Arsenal defense scramble at times, but didn’t have the desired end product.
Ebrechi Eze 7/10: Got into some clever positions in between the line and caused trouble with his dribbling, was unlucky to not win a penalty.
Jeffrey Schlupp 6/10: Had some clever moments of improvisation to get his team on the attack, but couldn’t find the telling pass.
Checik Doucoure 6/10: Shielded his back four well with his clever positioning and was tidy on the ball but couldn’t progress the ball.
Odsonne Edouard 6/10: Got in behind Arsenal’s high-line at times and caused trouble, but failed to find the elusive goal.
Substitutes
Naouirou Ahamada 5/10: Added pace and energy.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi 5/10: Did well to get up and down the pitch.
Arsenal player ratings: Saliba shines
Aaron Ramsdale 6/10: Commanded his box well, was good on the ball but didn’t need to make a serious save.
William Saliba 7.5/10: Made a brilliant challenge to deny Edouard, his pace was key to Arsenal effectively defending with a high line.
Ben White 6.5/10: Defended his area very well, made blocks when called upon and his play on the ball was exceptional.
Thomas Partey 7/10: Played the hybrid right-back/midfielder role brilliantly, took the ball under pressure and added forward thrust.
Takehiro Tomiyasu 4/10: Was unfortunate to get sent off after two yellows for time wasting and a soft challenge respectively.
Declan Rice 7/10: Patrolled the pitch with authority, snuffed out most dangerous situations Palace created and kept the ball circulating very well.
Martin Odegaard 7/10: Elusive, elegant and effective, he consistently found pockets of space and clever passes; and calmly slotted the penalty to top it off.
Kai Havertz 6.5/10: Played the left eight role well, found Martinelli in transition, then did the dirty work as a target man up-front after Arsenal were down to 10.
Bukayo Saka 7/10: Consistently threatened down the right flank with his pace and trickery, filled in at left back bravely after the Tomiyasu red card.
Gabriel Martinelli 6.5/10: Found spaces in the left wing and looked threatening when he isolated a defender, but didn’t get the ball enough to do more damage.
Eddie Nketiah 7/10: Ran the channels, stretched the backline, hit the post and won the decisive penalty; was unlucky to not get a goal for himself.
Substitutes
Gabriel 6/10: Shut down the door for Palace well.
Jorghinho 5/10: Added calm to a potentially panicky situation.
Oleksandr Zinchenko: N/A
Jakub Kiwior: N/A
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal: Match Summary and Highlights
Arsenal tried to get on the front foot right from the off as Martinelli and Saka had early shots blocked. Palace tried to fight back with blows of their own with Ayew and Edouard giving the Arsenal defense a torrid time.
Saliba denied Palace a great opportunity with a last ditch tackle but the two big chances of the half fell to Nketiah, who hit one against the bar and his chip went over. The teams went to half-time with the scores level.
Mikel Arteta’s men came out of the blocks with real purpose after the break and the impressive Eddie Nketiah won a penalty following a set-piece situation. Captain Odegaard tucked it away into the bottom corner to give his team the lead.
Last year’s runner’s up then got into trouble as stand-in left back Takehiro Tomiyasu got sent off after seeing his second yellow for a foul on Jordan Ayew. Arsenal were down to 10 men and looking at a barrage of Palace attacks.
Arteta called upon his bench and they answered, Gabriel joined the backline and they shut-up shop. The gunners thwarted a buoyant Selhurst Park to hold onto the 1-0 lead, even though Palace felt Ebrechi Eze’s brilliant piece of skill deserved a penalty.
Man of the Match
His pace and strength made a real difference at crucial moments, especially his incredible block against Edouard was the a big reason Arsenal kept their clean sheet. Brilliant on the ball and tenacious of it, this was an almost complete performance from the Frenchman.
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