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Summary
It wasn’t by any means a convincing victory for Arsenal, but you have to give them some credit the way they responded after conceding that equaliser. They survived five minutes of sustained pressure from Palace, and then Sanchez and Wilshere showed their class. Those two were the best players on the pitch. In the post-match interview, Wilshere just said regarding his contract situation: “I’m sure we will get it done. I have to speak to the boss.”
If Ross Barkley, Jake Livermore or Danny Drinkwater go to the World Cup ahead of Jack Wilshere, England should be eliminated by default, Gareth Southgate should be banned from football and the Royal Family should be beaten to death with a bag of soap.
— Tom Todhunter (@tdhntr) December 28, 2017
Lots of running, lots of energy, but apart from Zaha, Palace lacked composure with the ball. On this evidence, they will survive the drop, but only if Zaha is a Palace player by 1 February.
Thanks for reading, and for your emails and tweets. See you next time. Cheers!
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Full-time: Crystal Palace 2-3 Arsenal
That’s it! Excellent match, that. Arsenal now one point behind Liverpool in fourth, Palace remain 16th.
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90+4 min: Arsenal clear the corner, but a beautiful reverse pass from Zaha releases Townsend, who crosses … to nobody. Ozil calmly flicks it round Fosu-Mensah, and Arsenal break on the counter-attack.
90+3 min: Zaha darts down the left flank, Chambers actually does very well to tackle him, and Palace have a corner!
90+2 min: Palace can’t get the ball back. Arsenal currently camped near their own corner flag. Throw in to Arsenal.
90+1 min: Arsenal win a corner. Sanchez will take his time.
90 min: Four minutes added on here.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-3 Arsenal (Tomkins 89)
A simple header straight from the corner. Arsenal were defending zonally, and with no player on either post. Tomkins simply jumped higher than anyone else and nodded it past Cech. Game on!
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89 min: Schlupp gets free on the left, cuts the ball back to Sako but Koscielny does brilliantly to get a toe on it, with the ball skewing just wide for a corner.
88 min: Arsenal bring on a sub: Xhaka does not go off permanently, for Maitland-Niles.
86 min: Arsenal inviting pressure now, and they’re not coping particularly well. First Zaha flashes a low cross across the six yard box, well cleared by Kolasinac, then Sako crashes a powerful shot over the bar. Arsenal were screaming for a handball against the Malian, but Michael Oliver waved play on.
84 min: Golden chance for Zaha. Sako sends a glorious cross to the back post, Zaha gets ahead of Bellerin but heads wide from six yards out! Replays show that Zaha only connected with his shoulder, looks like Bellerin just did enough to put him off.
82 min: A strange one. Xhaka slips on the turf, goes down in a heap and it looks for all the world like he has pulled a hamstring or a groin. He even limps off with the help of the Arsenal physio. Then, a minute later, he runs back on the pitch as though nothing happened.
80 min: Zaha really is Palace’s only hope at this point. He’s quick and direct and tries to go around the outside of Mustafi, but the German is equal to the winger, and gets the block in. Palace make their final change: Kelly off, Fosu-Mensah on.
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79 min: Palace’s players look knackered. Especially Milivojevic, who hasn’t been able to deal with Wilshere all night. Arsenal popping the ball about without any pressure.
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77 min: Re Zaha debate …
“Are there any except Zaha who’d make the match day squads of any of the six?” asks Geoff Wignall. “On that basis I’d say he’s the best.”
75 min: Sanchez has moved to a more central role, now that Lacazette has departed.
A" lacazette" sounds like a gadgety thing, possibly out of the catalogue, given to 11 year olds for Christmas in the mid-70s, that would be broken by Boxing Day @michaelbutler18.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) December 28, 2017
74 min: Arsenal make their first substitute: Coquelin on for Lacazette. This is a good change as far as Arsenal are concerned. The game is won as it stands, they need to make sure they don’t ship a silly goal and let Palace get their momentum back.
72 min: Very impressed with Sanchez’s application tonight. Always has the quality to impress but doesn’t always look as hungry as he has done tonight. Has won the ball back at least three times.
13 - Alexis Sanchez has had a hand in 13 goals in his last 15 Premier League London derbies (10 goals, 3 assists). Capitalised. pic.twitter.com/nwpXvGZSAd
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 28, 2017
71 min: Palace make their second change: Sako for Loftus-Cheek.
70 min: Palace have lost their way here slightly after such a promising start to this half. Kolasinac breaks free down the left, cuts the ball back to Ozil who is free on the edge of the box, but the ball is just behind the German and he spoons it well over.
68 min: This is Wilshere’s fourth successive start for Arsenal, his best run in the side in four years. Amazing what confidence does.
1-3 Wilshere has time on the half-way line and drops a sumptuous pass on a dime for Sanchez, who breaks the offside trap, takes the ball down on his thigh and rolls the ball past Speroni with his second touch. Three simple wonderful touches from Arsenal there. What a pass from Wilshere, Sanchez didn’t have to break stride. I would say the Englishman has been Arsenal’s best player tonight.
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal (Sanchez 66)
Sanchez scores his second in four minutes!
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1-2 Lacazette beats Tomkins to a high ball (5ft9in!), the ball drops to Sanchez and he lashes the ball in from 12 yards. One would think Speroni wouldn’t be beaten there, and he should have better, but it was struck so fiercely, and actually went through Tomkins’s legs.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal (Sanchez 62)
Speroni beaten at his near post!
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60 min: Arsenal finally beginning to get a foothold in this second half. Wilshere has calmed things down a bit and the crowd have got quieter.
59 min: Discuss. Mahrez? Bolasie? (when fit?)
Wilfried Zaha is the best player outside the Big Six isn't he.
— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) December 28, 2017
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57 min: Xhaka is looking all at sea in midfield. But then, Arsenal don’t have a wealth of options on the bench. Coquelin maybe?
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55 min: Palace have made a change: Cabaye off, McArthur on. I think that’s a tactical switch, rather than an injury.
53 min: Serious lack of game management here from Arsenal. They need a leader here to get their foot on the ball. Instead, it’s panic stations with wild hacks upfield. Palace come roaring back. First Loftus Cheek gets the wrong side of Chambers and has his shot blocked by Koscielny. Next Schlupp fires a low shot into the side netting. It’s all Palace.
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52 min: Arsenal are rocking, as Palace spring forward again on the counter attack. Somehow, Zaha gets one-on-one with Mustafi but the German does well to slide tackle the ball out for a throw in.
51 min: Zaha is very good at football.
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal (Townsend 50)
Right in front of the Palace ultras, Zaha gets one on one with Chambers, lollipops right, goes left to the byline and cuts the ball back perfectly to Townsend, who is completely unmarked on the penalty spot and sidefoots in. Cech didn’t move!
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47 min: Really slick start from Arsenal, everything is one-touch. Palace look desperately short of numbers in midfield. Sanchez has time on the left to get his head up and pick a beautiful cross to Bellerin at the back post. Loftus-Cheek doesn’t track him properly but rather than volley the cross in first time, Bellerin takes a touch and ball gets away from him, well smothered by Speroni.
46 min: Sanchez starts the second half with a rabona pass to Kolasinac. Lovely stuff.
Peeeeeep! We’re underway again in south London.
Zaha fuming with Michael Oliver, has to be led away by Scott Dann and picks up a booking. Cech also wants a word with the referee. pic.twitter.com/Oa6Bz88KTW
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) December 28, 2017
If you haven’t already read Daniel Taylor’s exclusive interview with Rhian Brewster, do.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal could easily have scored three in that half. Wilshere, Sanchez and Ozil are running the show.
45 min: One minute added on. It’s been a good half of football.
43 min: I’ve been impressed with Bellerin, too. No standout moments, but he’s done well to keep Zaha half-quiet, and shown some neat touches going forward on the overlap.
41 min: Townsend wins a free-kick, allowing Palace’s centre backs to gallop forward. But Bellerin wins the header and then Lacazette does an excellent job of outmuscling Schlupp, just as the former Leicester man was lining up a shot. Arsenal’s front three – Lacazette, Ozil and Sanchez – are all doing their bit defensively tonight.
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39 min: So close for Arsenal. They hit Palace on a lightning counter-attack, Ozil and Sanchez exchanging passes, the latter one a perfectly weighted one from Sanchez. Ozil waltzes onto it, dribbles straight through Dann and Tomkins, and tries to square a ball for Lacazette to roll into an open net, but his pass is just too strong and the Frenchman is forced wide!
37 min: If anybody was wondering about Sanchez’s commitment, he’s just sprinted 50 yards to beat Kelly in a tackle, just outside Arsenal’s penalty area.
34 min: Lacazette dances on the edge of the area, somehow breaks two tackles and fires a low shot just wide of Speroni’s near post. That’s poor defending from Dann and Schlupp, who has had a pretty torrid opening half-hour.
32 min: Zaha gets half a yard of space on the left, and cries a curler towards the back post, but it’s a few yards wide. Without him, Palace don’t seem to have a prayer. They don’t seem to have another outlet.
31 min: Yet again, Wilshere is fouled, this time by Cabaye. That’s Wilshere’s game isn’t it: dribbling, drawing defenders out, then nipping the ball away at the last moment. It’s no wonder he gets injured so much. Sanchez drives the ball powerfully towards goal from the free-kick, but it’s straight at Speroni.
30 min: Great save from Speroni! Sanchez dissects Palace’s defence with a wonderful slide-rule pass, Ozil latches onto it, tries the dink, but Speroni throws up a left arm and makes an amazing instinctive save!
28 min: Chambers is booked for cynically tugging back Zaha on a Palace counter-attack. That’s what you would call a good foul. I’m 90% certain that Chambers has dyed his hair. Looks a lot darker from what I remember.
27 min: Wilshere wins the ball cleanly high up the pitch – Dann having given Cabaye an absolute hospital pass – but the Arsenal man is penalised by Michael Oliver. Harsh. That was actually excellent pressing from Wilshere. He’s wearing the No10 tonight with distinction so far.
0-1 This is actually an excellent finish from Mustafi. It came to him quickly, and he calmly sidefooted the ball home, with maybe a two yards of space of open goal to aim for. Speroni perhaps should have done better with the initial save from Lacazette. Palace twice had opportunities to clear and with Schlupp heading the ball straight to Wilshere on the edge of the box. A deserved lead for the Gunners.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal (Mustafi 25)
Palace can’t clear the free-kick and after Speroni parries Lacazette’s shot, Mustafi is on hand to turn the rebound into the net from a tight angle.
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23 min: It’s all Arsenal here. Wilshere looks very neat in central midfield and wins a free kick in Palace territory.
20 min: Arsenal enjoying an excellent spell here. Sanchez and Ozil combine nicely, the latter pulling the ball back to Xhaka. Again, it’s an excellent block – I think from Tomkins. Next, Ozil again threatens on the left, feeding a wonderful low cross across the six-yard box. Nobody there to tap it in at the back post.
17 min: Palace fans shout for handball, as Schlupp cannons a cross against Chambers’s elbow. Not given, just outside Arsenal’s penalty area. Palace certainly had a case there.
16 min: For somebody that is only 5ft9in, Lacazette holds the ball up very well. He lays it off to Bellerin, who cuts the ball back to Wilshere on the edge of the area, but Dann gets out well to make an excellent block.
14 min: Zaha wins a corner, twisting to the byline, where Bellerin muscles him out of it. Cabaye swings it in, but Cech comes through a crowd of bodies to punch clear.
12 min: This game has goals, I just can’t say at which end. Good tempo to the play.
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10 min: Chambers has got his hands full with Zaha tonight, but to be fair to the Arsenal man, he makes an excellent tackle on the edge of his own area on the Ivory Coast international.
9 min: Xhaka let’s fly from 25 yards, but it goes over. He’ll be disappointed to see that Mignolet is not in net tonight.
6 min: Sanchez looks like he’s in the mood. Meanwhile, on the Arsenal bench:
Might have been @Arsenal manager for ever but Wenger still can't put his bloody zip up on that coat. #Arsenal #PremierLeague #CRYARS #zipproblems pic.twitter.com/x0KORVGzXA
— Carl Walsh (@Carl_Walsh33) December 28, 2017
4 min: Zaha cuts inside Chambers nicely, but Bellerin does well to recover. A big responsibility tonight on the Spaniard to close down Palace’s danger man.
2 min: Two minutes pass without Palace touching the ball, although they hold their shape well. Eventually Xhaka boots the ball out for a goal kick, trying to find Sanchez. Sometimes I do wonder what the point of Xhaka is. He doesn’t smell danger when defending, he’s not particularly quick, and his passing often leaves a lot to be desired. Compared to Matic, say. Scores the odd screamer I guess.
Peeeeeeeep! Arsene Wenger’s 810th Premier League match is underway. The Frenchman now jointly holds the record with Sir Alex Ferguson for games managed. He was on fine form yesterday at his press conference, by the way.
The teams are out! Palace in their blue and red. Arsenal in their changed grey/black kit. Wilshere looks very focused. It’s a big night for him, playing for a new contract alongside Xhaka.
Re the preamble, this is the down side to Selhurst Park…
#relatable #content for anyone who has ever been to Selhurst Park: pic.twitter.com/q2xOyGk5sH
— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) December 28, 2017
Roy talks!
We’re starting to see the best of Benteke. I’ve seen that in training, he can bring so many players into the game. If we’re going to get any points from this game, we’re going to have to play at our very best. But we can win it. We’ve got to believe that. We haven’t set the team up to rely on parking players in front of our team. We’re a ‘playing’ team.
Hodgson is insistent on calling tonight’s opponents “The Arsenal”, which I quite like.
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Pape Souare is yet to make his league return after his horrific car crash last year and with Schlupp and Van Aanholt ahead of him in the pecking order, is not included in the squad, although he is at Selhurst Park tonight. There’s talk of a loan move in January, perhaps to Marseille (sans Evra) or Galatasaray.
Further reading:
In that 3-0 defeat earlier this year, here’s what Dominic Fifield had to say in the match report:
The spaces that gaped were duly exploited by the lung-bursting running of Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha, or clever manouevring of Yohan Cabaye and Jason Puncheon. Christian Benteke tormented Shkodran Mustafi in the air and it was invariably a Palace player who gathered the knockdown.
I seem to remember Sakho being fantastic that night as well. All of those Palace players Dom mentions start tonight, in what looks like a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Zaha just behind Benteke, who has returned from a one-match ban.
Arsenal line up in a 3-5-2/5-3-2, depending on how you view it. Interesting to see that Calum Chambers starts, his first appearance since the first league appearance of the season.
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Tonight's teams
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Kelly, Tomkins, Dann, Schlupp, Townsend, Cabaye, Milivojevic, Loftus-Cheek, Zaha, Benteke.
Subs: Van Aanholt, Hennessey, McArthur, Fosu-Mensah, Sako, Puncheon, Riedewald.
Arsenal: Cech, Chambers, Koscielny, Mustafi, Bellerin, Xhaka, Wilshere, Kolasinac, Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Subs: Ospina, Walcott, Holding, Iwobi, Welbeck, Maitland-Niles, Coquelin.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Selhurst Park is a wonderful stadium. Particularly for evening games when you can get a bite to eat at Tasty Jerk – a modest hut on its north-west corner serving some of the best food in south London - and its old school charm, wooden seats and bold primary colours are brought to life by some of the best fans in the Premier League. And I’m not necessarily talking about the ‘ultras’, who, for the most part, are excellent, but the wider fan base: they seem to have good balance of perspective – not a given these days – and don’t seem to get too excited when things are good, or too despondent when things are going south.
When they battered Arsenal 3-0 earlier this year in April, to finally but a bullet in Arsene Wenger’s top-four hopes and see themselves clear of danger, this was met with short-term delirium. Nothing more, nothing less. The week before they had lost to Southampton, the weekend after they drew with Leicester.
How must they be feeling now? Palace are currently fighting a relegation battle, but are on a eight-match unbeaten run in the league – their longest top-flight run since a 12-match stretch in October 1990 - and are up to 16th, with a game in hand. Under Roy Hodgson, they have been be reborn.
Arsenal fans famously struggle with this sense of balanced perspective, but this season, with Manchester City so many leagues ahead of everybody else, there is less pressure and subsequently, fewer dissenting voices. Just one win in five league matches would normally be bedlam on the forums, but as long as Arsenal are still in the hunt for a Champions League place, and giving the cups a good run, fans seem to be holding their tongue.
That said, this is a massive game for the Gunners, they are sixth, four points off Liverpool in fourth. They could do without another 3-0 defeat.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT.
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