EPL – What We Learned – Arsenal 1 Crystal Palace 1

EPL – What We Learned – Arsenal 1 Crystal Palace 1

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Crystal Palace took their first points off of Arsenal since they returned to the Premier League two seasons ago with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal were able to find the breakthrough late in the first-half after dominating in terms of possession. A failed clearance from Scott Dann was pounced upon by Danny Welbeck, who was then able to find Alexis Sanchez to head past Wayne Hennessey.

The Eagles got the equaliser after a great run down the wing from former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who played the ball off for Yannick Bolasie. The Congolese winger took his chance with a long range strike that beat Petr

Palace were able to finish the game strongly and will look to continue that when they travel to take on Manchester United, while the Gunners will go up against West Bromwich Albion at home.


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Palace’s deep defence

In a game where Palace allowed Arsenal to have close to three-quarters of the possession they were constantly defending. They did the job fairly well in the first-half when the hosts looked at their most dangerous and should have been able to capitalise better.

The success for Palace came because at the time all players besides Bolasie and Connor Wickham were behind the ball. This meant that for Arsenal, although they were able to maintain possession in the middle of the field, they found difficulty once faced with trying to get the ball into the box.

The goal that was scored by the Gunners was off the back of a mistake when Dann, who was struggling with a foot injury, was unable to effectively clear the ball and put Mile Jedinak under pressure. Sanchez should have been dealt with better by Pape Souare, who let the Chilean winger to get goal side and thus get his head to the ball to easily for the goal.

Apart from that lapse the Eagles defence was strong when faced with the threats of Arsenal and Alan Pardew should be able to take that as a positive out of the game.

Sanchez and Ozil combination

Mesut Ozil and Sanchez were working well together and looked the most likely to be able to create another goal for the Gunners. On multiple occasion they were able to find each other in dangerous positions and able to get shots off.

Before taking the lead, Ozil and Sanchez combined for a one-two that saw the German break though the Palace defence and get on the end of the pass, but the shot could not be directed past Hennessey in the Palace goal.

The second good opportunity came just after the hour mark when Ozil found Sanchez on the far post, however, the Chilean was unable to find the mark at a time that would have likely put the game out of reach for Palace.

Ozil did provide a chance late on from a free-kick for Gabriel, but the defender was only able to hit the ball into the hands of Hennessey.

Who was your man of the match from Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace?

Arsenal struggling against London opposition

So far in the league this season Arsenal have only won one game against London rivals. In fact, the only team that has taken less points than the Gunners (who have only taken seven), is Palace, who have five points against other London teams.

This issue, combined with a poor home form in the last six home games where they have only picked up eight points from a possible 18, shows why they have fallen out of the title race and look destined again to finish no high than third for the 11th straight season.

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