Arsenal beat the Eagles by 2 goals to nil:
Man of the Match: William Saliba (8.7/10)
The story of the match is a tale of 2 halves. The first half saw the Gunners off to a blistering start and they were by every measure the team on top.
A fantastic dribble by star-signing Gabriel Jesus saw him get a shot at goal, which deflected and fell to his fellow Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli only for him to embarrassingly miss a very clear chance.
A well worked corner routine however, saw Martinelli head the ball past Vincente Guaita giving Oleksandr Zinchenko his first assist (and goal contribution) for the Gunners.
After this goal however, the most glaring flaw of Mikel Arteta's men was on display. The players got very comfortable after scoring and did not push to score their second while they were ahead. This lack of pressuring lead to the Eagles settling into the game. Towards the latter end of the first half, Crystal Palace controlled the flow of play through some solid possession football and saw 2 shots from Odsonne Edouard which were saved by Ramsdale, keeping the Gunners in the lead.
The second half however, was highly disappointing from an Arsenal standpoint. Crystal Palace maintained majority of the possession in the second half and had some very good chances to score. The defence however, did a fantastic job to cope with the Palace attack. Ben White well and truly made Wilfred Zaha look like Willian in 2021. Zinchenko had a solid shift at left-back and kept Jordan Ayew under control. Gabriel however, made some errors in his passes and was rather sloppy. But by far and away, today's best player was the debutant, William Saliba. With 7 duels won, 7 clearances and a 94% passing accuracy, Saliba showed why he deserves to be a starter in the Arsenal team and kept the defence under control. The levels of patience, coolness and composure under the ball was amazing, considering he is just 21. Never have I felt so secure and assured when an Arsenal player makes a slide tackle as I have with William Saliba today.
The 83rd minute substitution of Eddie Nketiah brought life back into the Arsenal attack. The striker threaded a pass through to Bukayo Saka, who took the shot at goal and had the ball deflected into the back of the net as an own goal by defender Marc Guehi.
Final Thoughts:
1. รdegaard needs to learn how to take the shot when he gets an opportunity and not always pass to someone else.
2. Martinelli has fantastic positioning but requires some finishing practice.
3. William Saliba deserves to start against Leicester next week after this Man of The Match performance.
4. We need to be more proactive in scoring more while we're ahead and not sit back after a 1 goal lead.
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