Summary
It wasn’t the prettiest Arsenal victory, but Wenger will be particularly pleased at the fight his team showed at a bouncing Selhurst Park. Mesut Ozil and Cazorla were probably the Gunners’ best players, although special mention should go to Mertesacker at the back (for winning the aerial battle with Wickham) and for Giroud, for his quite brilliant opening goal.
Crystal Palace can feel aggrieved not to get something from this game. For starters, they should have been playing against 10 men – Coquelin was extremely lucky on two occasions to escape a second yellow card. Mutch and Lee wasted excellent late chances but the team lost their bite when Pardew withdrew Bolasie (at half-time) and Zaha (mid-way through the second half).
Thanks for reading, and for your emails and tweets. See you next time. Bye!
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Full-time: Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal
That’s it – Arsenal get their first points of the season!
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90+2 min: Arsenal dealing with the pressure well here: Mertesacker is winning everything in the air, as Palace pump the ball long. Arsenal break once again, but again McCarthy is equal to a fierce Oxlade-Chamberlain effort. The Palace keeper has been excellent today.
90 min: McCarthy makes a magnificent save with his left leg to deny Cazorla after an incisive Arsenal counter-attack. Three minutes added on for injury time.
4 - There was a goal scored in injury time at the end of each half of both matches between Crystal Palace & Arsenal last season. Drama.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 16, 2015
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89 min: Lee misses a glorious chance to equalise! Wickham chests Souare’s cross into the path of Lee, who running from deep, is completely untracked. The ball is on the South Korean’s weaker left foot but he chooses not to pull the trigger, checking back on his right foot, which allows Bellerin to make a tackle. What a waste. From the subsequent corner, Ward powers a header at goal, but it’s straight at Cech, who falls to the floor in relief.
87 min: Bamford wins a corner for Palace. Cech starts to come for the ball as it is swung in, but he doesn’t get anywhere near it. Instead Delaney wins a near post flick, and Mutch, all of two yards out, nods it over the bar. He didn’t know anything about it in fairness!
85 min: Palace struggling to create chances, despite the fact that they are dominating the possession at present. With Bolasie and Zaha both off, they don’t have the same threat out wide.
82 min: “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of consistency with own goals vs awarding goal to offensive player,” emails Mike Mackensie. “Maybe I don’t understand the rule though ... “
If the shot is on target, and then deflected by a defensive player, then the goal is awarded to the attacker. But seeing as Sanchez’s header was heading wide, with Delaney’s touch taking it into the net, then it’s awarded as an own goal.
81 min: Arsenal respond with their final change: Ozil off, Gibbs on.
79 min: Wickham is penalised for crashing into Mertesacker, after the latter won a header. Palace make their final change, Patrick Bamford coming on for his Premier League debut in place of McArthur.
Stuart James did an excellent interview with Bamford this week, which you can read here.
77 min: Arsenal are digging in now, the line of their back four when Palace have the ball is almost on the edge of their own box. Palace must beware Oxlade-Chamberlain’s pace on the counter-attack, though.
75 min: Both managers make changes: Arteta coming on for Sanchez. Ramsey will not move to the left, his third position of the match. Zaha comes off for Palace, with Lee taking his place.
73 min: Cech also has to deal with the ball aerially, but flaps at a cross from Puncheon. The ball breaks to Wickham, who slices it high and wide.
71 min: Oxlade Chamberlain tries his luck from the edge of the box, but it’s well blocked by Souare. Corner to Arsenal, which is well claimed by McCarthy.
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68 min: Arsenal fly forward on the counter attack, and after a couple of one-twos, Ozil slips Ramsey in with all the disguise of Odysseus. The Welshman is completely free in Palace’s penalty box, but the ball is slightly behind him, so he swivels and takes the shot early. Just over, by maybe a yard or so.
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66 min: Zaha runs at Cazorla, but the little Spaniard stands tall, and nicks the ball off the winger. Good defensive work there, Cazorla will have to do much more of that in the remaining third of this game, you would think.
“What does everyone think of Raphael Honigstein’s assertion that Arsenal’s good end of season form was because Wenger had his strongest 11 and their best formation trust upon him by injury and lack of options,” emails David Flynn. “Now that everyone is fit again he has too many options, too many attacking midfielders and hasn’t a clue how to get them all working together.”
Not sure that Wenger ‘doesn’t have a clue’ or that it’s a bad thing that Arsenal have options off the bench, but it is certainly true that their team lack balance in midfield, everyone is offensive now that Coquelin has departed. Good job Cazorla knows how to tackle …
65 min: Souare hoofs a clearance upfield, which lands just out of play – the Palace ball-boy bringing the ball out of the air with all the nonchalance of a young Ronaldinho. Palace fans cheer a new hero.
63 min: And in the most predictable development of the day, Arsenal make a sub: Coquelin off, Oxlade-Chamberlain on. He’ll play on the right, with Ramsey switching inside.
61 min: Coquelin comes thundering through the back of Cabaye. He does take some of the ball, but that’s a bad challenge. And yet, no yellow card! Absolutely bizarre decision from Lee Mason. Arsenal very lucky to still have 11 men on the pitch.
PL is a single competition. Can't have Janmaat outpaced and sent off yesterday and Coquelin outpaced and stay on today @michaelbutler18
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 16, 2015
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59 min: Crystal Palace come roaring forward, Arsenal appear to be lagging, they have not had the same fluency since scoring their second. I would expect to see some substitutions soon.
57 min: Puncheon get’s half-clear of Bellerin down the left, chesting down Wickham’s lovely pass from downtown, but Puncheon’s shot is weak, and Cech is able to collect.
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal (Delaney og 55)
Sanchez leaps like a salmon and puts the Gunners back in front! Kind of. Ramsey neatly released Bellerin on the right who floats an inviting ball to the back post. Ward is static and Sanchez – all 5ft5in of him – comes flying in, planting a header towards the back post. It’s heading just wide, but Delaney shins it into the net, hitting the right post on the way in.
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51 min: Ozil shows great persistence to chase down a seemingly lost cause, retrieving the ball from the clutches of the byline, before backheeling the ball past Souare. The Senegalese brings the World Cup winner to the turf. Free-kick, which is headed away by Dann.
48 min: In 30 seconds we see the worst and the best of Zaha. First his dribbles inside Arsenal’s box, and fails to play an easy square pass to Cabaye. Textbook hogging, the kind you might see from an annoying kid the playground. But then, regaining the ball on the right wing, Zaha sends a devastating low cross across Arsenal’s box, completely their defence open. Bellerin gets on the wrong side of Wickham who volleys Zaha’s cross onto Cech’s left-hand post. The ball bounces clear. Arsenal survive – Wickham should have buried that, he was maybe four yards out!
Peeep peeep! We’re underway again. Jordan Mutch is on for Bolasie for Palace, a straight swap. Very strange substitution, Bolasie played well in that first half. Monreal and Coquelin couldn’t handle him. No changes for Arsenal.
For any haters out there …
Mesut Ozil First Half Passes 37 Completed 97% Chances Created 4 Assists 1 #Arsenal pic.twitter.com/wM4TV3NBZw
— EPL Stat Man (@EPLStatman) August 16, 2015
Ramsey had a decent half, too, albeit on the right flank. I would expect him to come inside at some point, and maybe Oxlade-Chamberlain move to the right wing.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal
Nicely poised.
45 min: Oooooo Coquelin is a lucky boy! Not four minutes after his challenge on Bolasie, he brings Zaha to the turf, after the Palace man has dribbled nicely out of defence to set up a dangerous counter-attack. Lee Mason doesn’t deem it to be a yellow though, when it definitely was. Alan Pardew shakes his head. Arsenal should really be down to 10. One minute added on for injury time.
30 seconds later, McArthur is booked for bringing down Coquelin. Boos ring round Selhurst Park.
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43 min: A couple of responses to the whole ‘most important Arsenal player’ debate.
“I think that without a doubt, Koscielny is the one people without whom Arsenal cannot function,” emails Cameron Yule. “Sanchez is replaceable - hell, they beat Chelsea without him - and even Coquelin can be filled in for, but without Koscielny, our defence can go from rock solid to unspeakably bad. He used to be rash and get sent off a lot, but right now, there are maybe only a couple of CBs in the league better than him.”
Cazorla should always play at the base of Arsenal's midfield. Knits the whole show together in a far superior way to Ramsey @michaelbutler18
— Sam Joiner (@samjoiner) August 16, 2015
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41 min: Yellow card for Coquelin, who upends Bolasie after the Palace man got goal side of him in midfield. Coquelin protests his innocence but that is as blatent a booking as you are ever likely to see.
39 min: Block after block after block after block. That is what Palace’s defence are having to do to keep this game level. Zaha needlessly fouls Monreal, who was going nowhere, and from the free-kick, Sanchez and Cazorla have efforts on goal. Both are denied, thanks to the bravery of Souare, Dann and Delaney. Clinging on a bit here.
36 min: Another great save by McCarthy! He’s having an excellent home debut. Ozil crosses, this time to the near post, and Ramsey peels away from Dann, trying an audacious flick from maybe five yards out. But McCarthy sticks out a strong left hand and claws it away.
34 min: More Arsenal pressure, as their attacking players – Ozil, Ramsey and Giroud – thread lots of little passes to each other inside Palace’s box, ending with a Cazorla long-range striker which flies well over the bar.
31 min: Bolasie is apparently playing in a central position today, behind Wickham. What that actually means is that he’s playing just about everywhere. This time he pops up on the left flank and swings a cross into the back post. Zaha sprints to get on the end of it, but goes down after clashing with Monreal. There are shouts for a penalty from the crowd, but the winger actually just ran into the back of Arsenal man. Not given.
29 min: Selhurst Park is back to its boisterous best. It’s rocking!
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal (Ward 27)
Out of nothing, Palace are level! Bolasie chests down a cross to McArthur, who lays the ball back to Ward. Ward is maybe 25 yards from goal, on the angle but hits a sharp first-time shot whizzing across the turf and inside Cech’s far post. He took that so early, it gave the keeper no chance. A real daisy-cutter!
3 - Arsenal have conceded from three of the six shots on target they have faced so far this season. Hole.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 16, 2015
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24 min: “Take a look at how the goal was scored and you see the importance of wide players,” emails Alec Pizzo. “Last week against West Ham the team attacked in a very narrow space with up to six player in the same area. The goal is a complete opposite of what happened last week, Ozil realizing he needed to pull wide and delivers a beautiful ball for Giroud to smash home acrobatically.
“The press is going on about how Arsenal need a world class center forward but in truth its more pressing for them to play it out wide and use Giroud’s great heading and runs into the box to score. Thats what players like Chamberlain can do, which makes it even more puzzling as to why he wasn’t given the nod to start today.
“Bring back to the width needed, is Rambo a orthodox winger, should someone else have start or should the line up have been Ozil on the left with Rambo in the middle, we’ll just have to wait and see if the risk becomes worth it.”
21 min: So nearly 2-0 to Arsenal! Sanchez cuts in on the right, drops his shoulder and flashes a fierce shot towards the far post. McCarthy gets down well to his right, but can only spill the ball and Ward, who so nearly slips, is just able to stretch to the ball and clear. It was maybe only the length of his studs that allowed him to get to that, which was crucial, with Ozil haring in on the rebound.
19 min: Zaha stands Bellerin up, jinking left, lollipopping right. But the Arsenal full-back is equal to the Palace man’s tricks, tackling the ball behind for a corner. Remember that Bellerin is the quickest player at Arsenal, and that blistering pace is perhaps the reason he is preferred to Debuchy today.
Fact: Bellerin broke Theo Walcott’s 40m sprint record by one hundredth of a second at the start of the season, setting a time of 4.41 seconds.
17 min: “One-nil to the Arsenal!” bellow the away fans. The normally raucous Selhurst Park falls deathly quiet. This is a dangerous period for Palace. Ramsey and Cazorla are pulling the strings, the game could easily get away from the home side.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal (Giroud 16)
A sublime strike! Ozil finds some space on the left – he is not closed down early enough by Ward – and he swings a cross in towards Giroud. The ball is slightly behind the Frenchman but he twists and contorts his body, and overhead kicks the ball into the far corner! McCarthy no chance!
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12 min: Bolasie is a special player isn’t he? The home crowd are off their feet nearly every time he gets the ball. This time it’s Palace’s turn to break, Bolasie running clear of Ramsey, hitting a long diagonal to Zaha on the left. The England international squares the ball across the six-yard box, but Cech is down well to gather.
10 min: It’s all Arsenal at the moment! Palace are lucky not to be behind. Ward is robbed by Sanchez, and suddenly it’s two on two at the back for Palace. Sanchez chooses to ignore Giroud’s run and drives inside, feinting to hit his initial shot, before driving an effort towards the corner, which is blocked by Delaney.
9 min: Ramsey tries from range. The shot dips and swerves, before finding the gut of McCarthy. Well caught.
7 min: McArthur clears off the line for Palace! The home side had won a corner, but Arsenal counter-attacked to devastating effect: two inch-perfect passes from Cazorla and Ozil left Sanchez one-on-one with McCarthy, who blocked Sanchez’s initial shot. The Chilean, however, pounces on the rebound, and shoots once more but McArthur somehow gets something on it on the line. Souare hacks clear.
5 min: Great block by Dann. Surely that is a goal-saving tackle! Ramsey gets to the byline left of Palace’s goal, McCarthy comes out to close the Welshman, who cuts the ball back to Giroud. With Palace’s keeper out of position, it’s an open goal as Giroud shoots but Dann slides in front of the Frenchman to deny Arsenal.
3 min: Zaha is felled by Coquelin but takes the free-kick quickly and Ward is released down the right with Monreal out of position. Ward gets his cross in, which is sliced behind by Koscielny. Corner, well cleared by Mertesacker.
1 min: Ozil plays a delightfully weighted pass inside Joel Ward at right back. Sanchez latches on to it, but can’t get his cross in. Is there any other player in the Premier League that is better than Ozil at that pass inside the full back?
“I can only say Fabregas is as good as Ozil with that type of pass,” replies Ruth Purdue.
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Peeeeeep peeeep! And we’re off! Palace rolls the ball back to Scott Dann, who boots it straight at the feet of Ramsey. Good start.
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The teams are out, Palace in their traditional blue and white stripes, Arsenal in their navy and gold away kit.
Do you say Cazorla, or Cathorla? I’m not sure which is right.
@michaelbutler18 I'm guething it's Cazorla in Latin America and Cathorla in Spain, except in Catalonia.
— Rick (@rickla) August 16, 2015
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Just look at the stances of the Sky Sports pundits as they talk about today’s game. Souness has gone for the two hands in pockets, crotch and chest fully exposed. Very Souness, that. Thierry is absolutely killing it, one hand in trou, the other poised like he’s holding a paintbrush. Niall Quinn just looks a bit awkward.
Joseph Vorster has got in touch, via the medium of email.
“In my opinion, when Francis Coquelin is in his element, he is one of the only players unrivalled in this strong Arsenal team. Yes, Arteta and Flamini will always be there to offer their similar services, yet not at the level of in form Coquelin, as we saw last season. This is why I think Coquelin is Arsenal’s key player.
“Alexis Sanchez is a magician with the ball. Whether it’s dribbling on the counter, or picking out a pass, he is for the most part unrivalled. Flawless so to speak. However, is he Arsenal’s key player? For him to be so, he would have to have a complete lack of competition in his position. Is this the case, however? With the rise of Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain, it seems that Sanchez is facing more competition than he would have thought to have had when he joined from Barcelona last year. Chamberlain’s dynamism and attacking approach to football have left some Arsenal fans asking why exactly he was dropped? Shouldn’t Chambo have a tad more of a chance?”
Yep, Oxlade-Chamberlain should definitely have more of a chance, for my money, but surely not at the expense of a match-fit Sánchez. But then who do you take out? Ramsey? No. Cazorla? No. Ozil? Probably not.
@guardian_sport @michaelbutler18 is it me or ... Do these two look related ??? ..... Brothers or borderline cousins ??
— Snapchat- hd271987 (@87RH13) August 16, 2015
Not a bad shout, that. I think we can all agree that both are proper sorts.
Cabaye has also been speaking to the cameras. It’s his home debut today. That confidence thing has come up again.
Alan Pardew is really close to the players. Every player in the dressing room, you just want to give the confidence back to him. I don’t know why it didn’t work out at PSG. I couldn’t get in the starting XI. I lost my happiness. I spoke to the France manager and he told me I needed to play.
Same question to Palace fans as well. Who do you think your most important player this season? Cabaye? Or is Dann, Zaha, Bolasie?
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Wenger has been speaking about Sánchez.
He has a big fighting spirit and away from home that is important. He is fit enough to start, but 90 minutes? That is another question.
He is surely Arsenal’s most talented player, but quick question to Arsenal fans: is he your team’s most important player? Or does Coquelin give the Gunners the balance they need? Does Cazorla dictating the tempo of attacks matter more. Answers on a postcard to michael.butler@theguardian.com or @michaelbutler18.
Today’s heroes and villains:
Crystal Palace, 4-2-3-1: Alex McCarthy, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, Zaha, Cabaye, McArthur, Puncheon, Bolasie, Wickham. Subs: Mariappa, Bamford, Hennessey, Jedinak, Murray, Mutch, Lee.
Bolasie starts! He was on the bench last week against Norwich remember. And Connor Wickham gets the nod ahead of Glenn Murray. FFS!
Arsenal, 4-2-3-1: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Coquelin, Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud. Subs: Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Arteta, Ospina, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Cech retains his place, and Sánchez comes in for Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
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Preamble
How much is too much confidence? Too much optimism? Of course it’s impossible to quantify, but it all got a bit much for Arsenal last weekend. Despite signing just one player over the summer, a steady pre-season and a good result against a good team in a game that doesn’t really matter had fans, journos and even a Frenchman claiming that Arsenal were title contenders. Then Petr Cech had a howler, Mesut Ozil clambered into the pocket of a 16-year-old and Laurent Koscielny was bamboozled by Dimitri Payet and the dreams went up in flames. Damn you confidence. Damn you optimism. Wenger out!
We are maybe too nice,” said Wenger afterwards. “If you want to say our aggression level against West Ham was not big enough, then I would agree with you. It’s maybe linked with the fact we were too confident and that we thought we would win the game anyway.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, seem to have nailed it: perfectly balancing early season optimism with a dose of caution. We’re signed Yohan Cabaye! Hooray! Oh hang on, we might yet lose Yannick Bolasie. We’ve won our first game away at Norwich 3-1! We’re going to win the league! Oh wait, remember, we’re Crystal Palace.
There was a joke going round this week in Guardian Towers that Alan Pardew would be be England manager after Euro 2016. It was said by a colleague, who shall remain nameless, in half-jest. But that’s just it, isn’t it? He was half-joking. It’s not impossible, however you might not want it to happen. So hat’s off to Pards. I think.
Can Arsenal bounce back? Can Palace catch the Gunners cold and continue their promising start? Let’s find out, together.
Kick-off: 1.30pm BST
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