Conservative Against Crystal Palace

Arsenal had the opportunity to extend their lead over Liverpool to seven points due to the Merseyside club losing to Brentford on Saturday night. The Gunners, in the past, struggle to capitalise on the downfall of their rivals. However, it's a different Arsenal side this season and a side that are seemingly hell bent on restoring glory to an old giant of the game. Crystal Palace stood in their way and that's a scary sight these days. In recent times the south London side have got the better of us on more than one occasion, in fact only last season we settled for a 2-2 draw at the Emirates. Oliver Glasner has taken them from strength to strength even since that result in April. They've picked up an FA Cup and Community Shield and embarked on a 17 game unbeaten run that only ended a couple of weeks ago. Mikel Arteta has his work cut out and this wasn't helped by concerns amongst the squad that Gabriel and Bukayo Saka might not make the game. Thankfully they did and Arteta could use the strongest starting XI at his disposal.

The game started as expected, Arsenal saw a lot of the ball, but struggled to find gaps in Palace's rock solid defence. The north London outfit moved the ball from side to side with the occasional long ball over the top struggling to do any damage. In fact it was Crystal Palace benefitting from Arsenal's possession based approach as they pounced on any loose balls and quickly turned defence into attack. However, all they could muster in the 30 minute period of relative success was three shots. Two of which were blocked and Adam Wharton sent one wide of the post. Arsenal barely responded up until Eberechi Eze's goal and that came from nothing. Declan Rice lined up a free kick and sent a whipped ball into the box which was badly cleared by a Palace player. The ball fell into Eze's path and after adjusting his body he managed to rifle it into the back of the net. Arsenal went 1-0 up, through a set piece. That would one of the last notable actions of the first half.

The second half was upon us and Arsenal started very brightly. A corner routine found Gabriel's head who rose above the crowd to plant a header against the crossbar, the rebound ended up with Rice who smashed his shot goalwards, but was denied by the strong arm of Dean Henderson. It should've been two and that was the best chance either side had to changing the score for the rest of the game. Cristhian Mosquera replaced William Saliba at half time, but he was able to subdue the threat of Mateta and Eddie Nketiah, in fact the entire Arsenal defence managed to thwart pretty much everything that Palace threw at them. Arsenal had a couple of half chances as well with Viktor Gyokeres glancing a header wide from close range and Riccardo Calafiori had an attempt blocked. To be honest, that was pretty much it from a game perspective. Arsenal remained strong to see out the game, but in reality Palace didn't test our resolve all that much.

The statistics reflected the kind of game we witnessed. Arsenal had 10 attempts, three on target which created an xG of 0.92. Within that, the Gunners created two big chances. Crystal Palace, on the other hand, had seven attempts with only one on target, creating an xG of 0.45. They created no big chances within that.

Player Ratings:

Raya - 7 - It's actually getting quite boring with his rating as he's not being allowed much to do. The only shot on target was from Nketiah and that was basically a header from close range that Raya already had his gloves on, go check it out. However, the Spaniard's distribution was good and was quick off his line to eliminate any potential danger.

Timber - 7 - Perhaps not his most effective game, but it was tough for any Arsenal player to really impose themselves on it. However, he's constantly banging on the opponents door up top and almost found space in dangerous areas on numerous occasions.

Saliba - 6 - He saw a lot of the ball in the time he was on the pitch, but nothing too progressive. He was kind of bullied by Mateta in one phase of play that needed Gabriel to sort out. Substituted at half time with an apparent injury.

Gabriel - 9 (MOTM) - This is Gabriel's season and everyone, outside of Arsenal fans, hates it. A monster at the back when he wasn't even supposed to be starting. The way he organises the defence and everything around him is the key to our success. Almost grabbed himself a goal too.

Calafiori - 7 - Much the same as Timber, one of his more quiet games. Less adventurous than his Dutch team mate, but still tried his best at getting into dangerous positions.

Zubimendi - 7 - As much as I love what Zubimendi offers the team, I think this game we saw what happens when he can't impose his brand of football on it. A little wayward with some of his passes and things weren't coming off as he'd have liked, but what I like about him is that he never gives up and never hides. He was still where his colleagues needed him and that's extremely important.

Rice - 7 - After learning of his injury in the first half, I can understand why he looked off the pace. Having said that, he still tracked back all the time and recovered possession on numerous occasions. In addition to this he provided the free kick that eventually landed in Eze's path, plus he could've grabbed a goal and assist himself.

Eze - 8 - Our goal scorer and against his former side. Similar to Zubimendi in that he always tried to do something good with the ball, but just lacked that pinpoint accuracy. He pressed well and obviously scored our goal so full marks for that.

Trossard - 7 - Probably our most dangerous of the front three, but still felt like a muted performance. He had a couple of sightings of goal and almost grabbed himself an assist, but struggled to get into the game.

Saka - 6 - Not up to the standard we saw against Fulham and Atletico Madrid, however, we did learn that he almost missed the game through illness which excuses his underwhelming performance. I felt like he was marshalled very well by Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell. Hopefully a bit of rest will do him good.

Gyokeres - 7 - This guy has been used to his absolute maximum and it's showing now more than ever. The amount of running we ask him to do is insane and he effectively has to create his own chances. The ball just doesn't seem to drop for him and that could be a criticism of him, but when you're burned out it's much harder to be clever. I'm confident the goals will come for him, but he needs someone to rotate with.

Substitutes:

Mosquera - 8 - A half time substitute for Saliba, but a more than competent performance from our young Spaniard. I don't think many people gave him much of a chance against Mateta, but he was quicker, stronger and smarter. Even Nketiah couldn't really get a sniff. You can hardly notice a drop in quality when Mosquera came in for Saliba and that's a huge credit.

Martinelli - 6 - The Brazilian had a great night against Atletico, but just couldn't get to grips with this one. A tireless runner and his injection of pace was welcome, but the game had reached the stage where it had moved past a need for his style of play.

Hincapie - 7 - I really liked what I saw from Hincapie. His Premier League debut and didn't look out of place at all. He's aggressive but smart with it, and I saw a little bit of his speed and it looks frightening. Hopefully we see much more of him soon.

Merino - 6 - Much like his cameo against Atletico Madrid, I wasn't happy with it at all. It felt like his touch was a trampoline and just kept ruining any chance of building up play late on. A great player to bring on when you're dominating and need an extra man in the box, but seems far too slow when you need someone to help find gaps in a tight defence.

Lewis-Skelly - N/A -

A fantastic result, but an underwhelming performance, that's understandable though given the injury concerns and illness in the squad. We dropped four on Atletico earlier in the week, so to reach those standards again would've been tough. I know people will point to our set pieces as an unsustainable approach, but I like to think that's a sign of us always finding a way. I'll do a whole other article on my thoughts and feelings on that issue. Anyway, up next is Brighton at home in the EFL Cup (Carabao Cup). With the amount of people we lost against Palace it's going to be hard to predict what Arteta will go for, but we should take it seriously and not as an inconvenience, so here's how I'd line up.

We have to understand that Brighton are very tough opponents and will not be walkovers, but rotation is also key to protect the players. This is based on Rice, Calafiori, Martinelli and Saliba not being available. We need to give Timber a break and White is more than capable. I really want Arteta to be brave and give Lewis-Skelly a run in midfield because Merino in the striker role is better than what he gives in midfield, as Gyokeres deserves a rest. I think Saka should get a half to an hour and then perhaps introduce Max Dowman if he's available. Aside from that this is a team capable of winning the game, it won't be vintage, but we'll see the depth. If we can win this game without Rice, Calafiori, Saliba, Martinelli, Havertz, Odegaard, Jesus and Madueke then imagine when they're all back. See you all in the next one!