Another game that is unlikely to go down as a classic, yet another game that feels absolutely massive, in terms of the wider context. Arsenal went into the game knowing that Liverpool had dropped another three points away at Brentford the day before and that Manchester City also had a tricky game away at Aston Villa at the same time, so the stakes couldn’t be much higher. Crystal Palace have been in fine form this season and were the last team to lose their unbeaten start so this was a really tricky game for Arsenal. If Arsenal were to drop points and City win, it would have been a fantastic weekend for the Manchester side however, if the opposite was true, it would been an amazing weekend for Arsenal and help them to open up a 7 point lead on Champions Liverpool and potentially a 6 point lead over Manchester City. I’ll be the first to admit, I was a bag of nerves all the way through this one, as it had the potential to a huge weekend in the title race.
The line-up
The lineup again was fairly similar to previous games, with Arsenal having played 6 days ago in the Champions League, so rotation could be kept to a relevant minimum. Riccardo Calafiori returned at left-back, in place of Myles Lewis-Skelly and likewise Leandro Trossard was chosen ahead of Gabriel Martinelli for the left wing slot. Whatever issue Gabriel had towards the end of the Atletico Madrid game, it wasn’t too serious, as he returned to the starting lineup alongside William Saliba again, as Arsenal sought to extend their excellent defensive record so far this season. The rest of the team was unchanged.
First half
If I’m honest, and I always try to be, it wasn’t a great start by Arsenal. Crystal Palace also had European exertions during the week and in fact had two less rest days prior to the encounter at The Emirates, but it was Arsenal who looked leggy early doors.
At the time it felt like Palace were really putting it on us, yet in hindsight they still never had worked David Raya with a shot on goal. They had a couple of dangerous attacks, including one worrying moment when Mateta got goal side following a bit of lapse defending from Saliba however, they never really carved us open and it was more of a case of the Palace attackers pouncing on poor passes from Arsenal players. Martin Zubimendi was another guilty of a lapse in concentration with a poor pass to Calafiori that was intercepted, but yet again Palace didn’t make Arsenal pay.
Palace dominated the midfield as Zubimendi and Declan Rice failed to get a foothold in the game and this was highlighted by Arsenal not having their first shot on goal until the 30 minute mark, when Trossard tested Henderson at his near post following a flowing move that started with an excellent run and hold-up play from Viktor Gyokeres.
Despite Palace making the early running, Arsenal had finally started to string a few moves together and it wasn’t long before they took the lead. Bukayo Saka won a rather cheap free kick from an unnecessary foul from Yeremy Pino just to the right of centre around forty yards from goal. Cue the imposing arrival of Calafiori, Saliba and dangerman Gabriel who sauntered forward to await Rice’s delivery. The ball was beautifully flighted towards the back post where Gabriel met it, only for his knock down to bounce away from goal, almost exactly on the penalty spot. There was no Arsenal player waiting to tap home, but help was on the way as Eberechi Eze was lurking with intent on the edge of the area and stormed in to meet the bouncing ball and expertly guide the ball into the bottom right corner with pace and precision. It was a special finish and a special moment, as Eze opened his Premier League account for Arsenal against his former employers. Muted celebrations followed, but you could tell what it meant to him. So Arsenal were in front, arguably against the run of play, in a game that they had to win. So far, so good.
Second half
Arsenal turned up from the first minute of the second half and in the next fifteen minutes, which was Arsenal’s best spell of the game, they should have put the result beyond Palace.
A short corner routine around 50 minutes lead to Rice chipping a lovely cross to the back post, which Gabriel met powerfully, as ever. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his effort cannoned back of the bar and three other chances followed in quick succession left me wondering how on earth we hadn’t manage to double our lead. Directly from Gabriel’s effort, Declan Rice fired goalwards from around 7 yards out, which Henderson instinctively blocked on the line, Gyokeres’ rebound was then blocked again. After Gyokeres’ effort was blocked, the ball came out to Arsenal once more, they worked the ball well to Saka who hit an arrow of a shot from the right-hand side of the box that whistled past the post like a bullet from all of 25 yards.
Around 10 minutes later, Arsenal should again, have extended their lead. A beautiful chipped ball into the left-hand channel from Gabriel, a part of his game that his improved almost completely under the radar, found Trossard. The ball was bouncing, but the Belgian did brilliantly to bring it under his spell and prod across goal. The ball was crying out for a touch and I’m still not sure where Saka and Gyokeres were when all this was unfolding, as the chance was cleared by Marc Guehi and Arsenal’s lead stayed at one goal.
Arsenal’s final big chance of the game came just before the 70 minute mark as another wicked corner from Declan Rice was somehow glanced wide from Gyokeres at close range, with Gabriel steaming in behind him. What followed in the next 25 minutes was incredibly uncomfortable!
Arsenal were not made to pay for their misses chances as such, as the best defence in the league did what it usually does and stood firm in the face of Palace pressure to remain impenetrable and claim yet another clean sheet. That’s 5 in a row and 10 in 13 in all competitions. That is some record! Yet I can’t help but feel that if Arsenal had been a bit more ruthless, we could have been saved that tortuous ending as although when you watch back the closing stages of the game, Palace never really threatened the Arsenal goal, every football fan knows that it only takes a second to score one and they can come from moments of individual brilliance or a complete bit of luck. Either of which can come at any time against any team, so I feel it was perfectly acceptable for me to be screaming at the TV in the closing minutes as the win came closer and closer!
At the end of the day, the three points were all that mattered and match winner Eberechi Eze was the star of the game with his telling contribution with Arsenal remaining four points clear at the top of the league,
Three key takeaways
Eberechi Eze is doing exactly what we bought him for – deciding matches
Again, I’ve mentioned it before, but this game really highlights why Arsenal brought in Eberechi Eze. Both the Eze and Noni Madueke signings underlined Arsenal’s determination to bring in players who can provide an X-factor during tight games and against Palace, Eze did just that. Again, it wasn’t his best performance and I’m sure he’ll play much better than this in an Arsenal in the coming weeks, but I again find myself completely unbothered by this performance as his moment of brilliance turned what could well have been one point, without him, into three points with him. Sorry, Palace, he’s ours now!
Piero Hincapie looks like a real find already
This is the first time I’ve really got to see anything of our new Ecuadorian defender and I really liked what I saw. Strong in the tackle, as aggressive as advertised, but with a calm that you don’t always get with these sort of passionate defenders. Also had some nice touches on the ball where he showed his quality and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the left-back/centre back soon. Probably against Brighton in the cup on Wednesday.
Arsenal have got themselves into a brilliant position
I really can’t believe the situation we’ve got ourselves in. Scratch that, I always had faith we would be topping the league at some stage this season. What I really can’t believe is how we went from 5 points off the top of the league, to opening up a 4 point lead on second place and 6/7 points on the two teams we are expecting to have to wrestle the league title away from. The weekend could not have gone any better from an Arsenal point of view (edit – one better would have been Tottenham losing as well, but you can’t have it all!) as not only did Arsenal overcome a really tricky test in beating Crystal Palace and not only did both of our rivals drop points, they both lost their respective games meaning the points swing in Arsenal’s favour was the absolute maximum of that it could have been coming into the weekend. Stay calm, Gooners, there’s such a long way to go. Still…we’re in a really good place right now and I really hope we continue to push on and stay there.