Arsenal looked as if they were set to drop more Premier League points, before two injury time goals secured all three on Roy Hodgson’s Selhurst Park farewell.
Nicolas Pepe fired the Gunners into a first half lead, but poor defending allowed Christian Benteke to equalise in the second. As the clock ticked towards full-time though, substitute Gabriel Martinelli grabbed an opportunistic strike to put Mikel Arteta’s side ahead, before a great individual goal from Pepe made the game safe.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal – Player Ratings
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Another day with a stronger ref and palace could have seen 3 reds before halftime
also shows how utterly pointless VAR is, for everything except offside
You really mean the lack of common sense by our terrible refs. Nothing wrong with VAR
I just can’t believe how blatant the incompetence and inconsistency is — they just make it up as they go, apply some rules here, disregard others there, with a “knowing” head shake or the stern brandishment of a card. Why fans don’t raise more of a stink about this is beyond me. Everyone just accepts it, and yet it costs us points — not today, thankfully. And you know had we delivered the high tackle or forearm, we’d have seen red in a heartbeat. How is that an even playing field, when the officials consistently move the goal posts?
The thing is VAR is predicated on having competent refs on the other end of it, and given every league in the world is saying “it’s not VAR it’s the refs” it is currently a useless tool as nobody has found a way to use it well. We were told there would be some disruption for a couple of seasons while we get used to it, but it would be justified in having completely accurate decisions. We’re currently getting far more disruption than we thought, to the point where players are waiting 2-3 minutes to celebrate goals, and still getting… Read more »
There needs to be a limit in the amount of time they look at something. If they cant determine the on field ref made the wrong decision within a minute, it’s not a clear and obvious error. No more slide rule calculations that an attackers toe or hand were offside. If they want the referee to look at a replay they have another 60 to 90 seconds period.
I remember that a few years ago FIFA turned down the use of VAR because it wasn’t fast enough. The implementation we have now is far worse than the standard denied back then.
Plus as others have said, its run by the same officials as those on the pitch. Which leads to the same inconstancies and lack of accountability as before. It falls into the same category as employing Foxes to guard a hen house.
Just celebrate the goals… I don’t get this point of view personally, we celerbrate wining penalties wihtout any certainty of a goal…
This.
I’ve been saying this for months, technology is fine. The referees in the EPL on the other hand!
VAR is useful to the extent it is laying the double standards absolutely bare. Previously these kinds of discrepancies were waved off as human beings making real-time decisions in milliseconds.
Nice to see that even when a different set of people are given minutes to reconsider, Arsenal still “don’t like it up them”.
Utterly self-parodic refereeing culture.
Blogs gives Leno our motm?! Omfg…I’ll have a pint of what your drinking mate!! And 6 for Aubamayang AGAIN??!! Enough of the “he didn’t get any service” bs. The dude has been awful all season and is just not what we need leading the line. Call it out ffs! His best position is drifting in off the left he should not be starting as central striker. His performances are killing us every time he plays there.
And line calls (eg whether fouls are inside/outside the area)
Refs didn’t want to spoil Roy’s party. Pathetic. Schlupp should’ve seen red. Benteke’s elbow used ‘negligible force’ ha ha. So Pepe’s ‘head butt’ on Alioski at Elland Rd had more than negligible force, just because that cheat went down like a sack of potatoes.
Loved the Palace fans treating Tierney like a pantomime villain. Any Celtic player who’s experienced Old Firm derbies can’t be too fussed by that. Horrible wingey fans though. They’re the Burnley of the south.
Pepe playing like a prime Zaha tonight
Saha must be the first recorded case of Munchausens vertigo. The number of times he falls over in a seeming near death experience is embarrassing.
Near death experience?? 😅🤣..Thanks ClockEndRider!
A bit like Tierney over these last few months
He scored 2 great goals and did some pretty rough stuff. This is Pepe. Overall cracking contribution. But the 2nd half really show the importance of two technical attackers when playing really direct players like Pepe and Auba. There was no connection between the mids and forwards particularly in the 2nd half as Auba contributes nothing to build up. The Odegaard sub changed the game. Well done Arteta for identifying it and making the change.
Anyone who thinks we don’t need Odegaard (or someone as good as him) should watch how he changed our crap second half.
There was a personal battle between them two but pleased Pepe realized rather than taking him he can keep dragging him out of position.
it was a good contrast between them. as capricious and punctuational as pepe’s good spells are, im glad we got hi over zaha
Leno was very good. Willian wouldn’t have got on the end of Odegard’s cross….
Yeah but Martinez…
Yeh, I know, Martinez would’ve got on the end of that cross. Seen him do it for Villa….
As much as Gabriel was too blame for their goal, his tracking of Zaha when through on goal just before we scored our second was crucial and showed great pace and strength. Adrian Clarke ‘flashpoint’-worthy.
If we’d remembered to click the “send on intensive language course” button when we confirmed the signing I think Gabriel would have made far fewer mistakes this season. Hopefully next year when his English is better communication won’t be such an issue and he’ll realise his potential
Play Martinelli at right back.
You’re absolutely right. I suspect he can already speak Spanish, but to be an effective Arsenal player, he’ll want to learn French straightaway.
About 20 years too late with that punchline I’m afraid Brent!
The ‘Portuguese players can speak Spanish’ idea is a bit overstated imo – as a native Spanish speaker you can generally understand basic commands (for example ‘Vamos’ is ‘let’s go’ in both languages, albeit pronounced slightly differently) and I’m sure it’s easier to learn Spanish starting from Portuguese than English, but it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to understand proper tactical instructions. If he’s fluent in French from his time in Lille then him and Saliba could be a game changer….
Koscielny went through the same learning process
And Squillachi.
It took two years of intensive therapy to stop my performing acts of self harm every time I thought about The Squid. I’m now pleased to think that none of our defenders are as bad as he was. We no longer own Mustafi, right?
Except Squilla never actually learned anything.
That’s a fair point
Pepe should start every game vs the bottom 14 teams next season, no excuses. He might not be the perfect player or ever be worth £72m, but he’s the one guy this year that has proven he can be the kind of flat-track-bully that is needed to get the European spots.
Could he be a striker?
Maybe, but there’s no evidence to prove either way. I think he suffers from playing with Aubameyang as both operate on the periphery but justify it with end product, and both operate best with a ball retainer on the other side so it’s probably one or the other unless we want 30% possession every game. Last season Aubameyang justified picking him through his performances and output. Now, given their respective ages and wages, I’d be more than happy to move on Aubameyang if we could get Grealish for that left wing spot
I agree 100%, Pepe and Auba are just an ill-fitted combination. It provides us basically zero connection between forwards and mids as they’re both more hungry for goals than building things up to get those chances. I’d like to see Auba just shut down and rested – he looks emaciated from the Malaria bout and Martinelli needs to be tried up top.
Ah, feckit – I’m just going to say this…
Pepe currently brings considerably more to the party the Auba:
And, dare I say it, he’s also building up a better work rate off the ball.
Passing is his main weakness, so maybe
Aubameyang had a poor game to be honest. Should have subbed him at half time
Our midfield players have dire attacking numbers. His are up there with all the other good wingers in the league. Technically we pay 15mil a season for him so far he’s returned on that. He also brings me joy when he finally succeeds in a dribble or a nutmeg.
Well… Sunday just became a whole lot more interesting! I sure would love to see us go ahead then keep pressing for a second, third, etc. Once we started sitting back, the table was really set for their reply. Ah well. Mostly dreary second half nicely made up for by those late goals. Great to see the stands at least partly filled.
Can we add Joe Willock’s goals this weekend? He’s a machine!!
Bonus rating: 10/10 for Joe Willock for scoring in the last 6 (!) consecutive matches he has played in. 3 of those were match winners, with 1 more for rescuing a draw.
20 million I don’t care, we need to give our boy a chance.
I think giving Willock proper minutes next season and selling him to the highest bidder this summer are both reasonable options and I’d be happy with either. What cannot happen under any circumstances is a repeat of the AMN (and Nelson and Nketiah to a lesser degree) situation where we turn down money for a player Arteta doesn’t fancy just to put him on the bench and tank his value. If we want to give him game time then there’s a spot up for grabs in our midfield. If we want to sell him then his stock has never been… Read more »
Wish I could up vote this more than once.
Agreed. Though I’m inclined to keep him. We’ve been crying for goals from our midfield players for years now, and that’s exactly what he does – scores goals. Yes, he’s not technically as secure as maybe we would want, but we have Elneny, we have Ceballos, we have Xhaka etc. and look how we (rightly so) complain about being toothless. He’s from our Academy (meaning also home-grown status), he’s still young, he’s not on a big salary, and he’s already at the club and settled in. Unfortunately we as a club at the moment can’t afford a midfield player who… Read more »
Keep the boy!!!
If we qualify for Europe next season, I could see us keeping Willock and Maitland-Niles.
I wonder if AMN could be our starting right back next year? He’d need to get his head straight………and improve his crosses.
I’ll admit to being in favour of selling Joe last summer, but he’s really taken the chance during his loan move to show what he can offer with regular minutes under his belt.
I now think he deserves a chance to fight for the right to wear the shirt during pre-season
Keep him on loan playing a key part at Newcastle. Rather than inevitably being in and out of the team, being chucked on when we need a goal in the last 10 mins etc
His goals and confidence will inevitably drop back at Arsenal next year, but keep him at Newcastle 1 more year, and he might be able to command a starting spot for the 22/23 season
Ceballos is still at the Emirates tracking back that guy the other day, Elneny is mr 6/10 reliable safe back passing….Then their is Xhaxa and Partey. How Willock wasn’t given a run considering how bad/absent all four have been at different points in the season
Just because Willock did well at Newcastle means he will do well with us. I would want us to aim for even better player. His value is going to be highest ever, we should cash in!
Willock + 40m for Grealish. We need to aim higher if we want to compete for the League ;P
If he scores in the next match, he’ll have the 4th joint highest goalscoring streak in EPL history. And he’s not a striker.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/longest-goalscoring-streaks-in-the-premier-league
Benteke should not have been on to score, how is that not a red? They’ve said over and over that any contact to the face is a red. We’ve seen the old tapping heads move be red carded, but not a violent forearm to players throat?
You know if Xhaka does that he gets sent off. Refs and commentators have their biases
Schlupp should have gone too.
Not to forget the body check on Tierney that preceded that etc etc
It was just the refs deciding to give Roy a nice retirement gift I suppose 😉
Although Blogs doesn’t think so, the FA’s Laws of the Game quite clearly state that it is not a sending off if the contact to the face involves “negligible force.”
Would anyone else like to see Odegaard start with Partey in midfield? Left-footed and I think it could work very nicely. He’s not as physical but he has many of Xhaka’s attributes with a slice of Santi’s close control thrown in. I’d love to see it, especially in games against the bottom half
For me partey needs someone solid next to him who can clean up the mess he often leaves us in by giving the ball away. Elneny does the job fine.
Sometimes I get a feeling that we are/were all a bit too hyped about what Partey might be, even himself after being freed from Atletico’s rigid system. I believe that Partey is at his absolute best when he sticks to the simple yet effective stuff that he does so well. Receive the ball, turn, pass it forward. Simple strong tackle. Holding your position. His best moments always seem to have come from doing the simple things, at least from my memory. I don’t recall him being sensational in any game when he tried (or was instructed to) to be everywhere… Read more »
Yes! I saw Partey a couple of times at the Wanda in Madrid and his best atributes IMO are positioning to recover the ball and block counters and vertical passing. Almost everytime he tries something more adventurous he ends up losing the ball or shooting tonthe moon
You really are a James hunt 😂
Stalker alert!
Are you still upset Kevin?
Don’t worry you’ll get over it. Now turn off the Xbox and go to bed school tomorrow.
Partey is overcomplicating his game trying to do everything. Dribble and pass through the lines from deep. Reminding me of Song in his final season.
I think Xhaka and Smith-Rowe would be our best midfield. Smith-Rowe my player of the match tonight. He could do Partey’s job and then some.
Haha really?
Smith Rowe and Partey would have got my attention. The sooner Xhaka packs up and leaves this club the better.
So you’re happy to see a key player who gives 100% every match leave?
Yes. He and a few others represent our slide from CL to EL to no Europe.
Partey isn’t not good at playing the “holding” MF. He showed many times he can be very sloppy with possession and passing. The only reason why Arsenal is looking a little better recently is because Elneny was partnering him. MØ while being a good passer and tidier passed, would be calamitous with TP.
I worry about Ode’s commitment to getting stuck in – beautiful feet going forward but he hardly ever puts in a serious tackle attempt.
Wow, I didn’t hear the “negligible force” thing until now, insane. Pepe’s red card after being drawn into a headbutt against Leeds was as forceless as it gets! Most unbelievable one for me was the lack of even a yellow for kicking Tierney (twice) after the ball was out of play.
Yeah what the heck??!! And Benteke did that all night, Mo picked up a beef with him coz he roughed up Saka and he jumped over Gabriel when the ball was not even near him in the 2nd half, yet the ref did nothing about it.
Why isn’t there any monitoring body for refree’s and their performance?
Many people say Auba carried us the two seasons before this one. Personally, I just see one example after another of why he was a terrible signing. We’ve spent the better part of three years trying to accommodate and play every attack through him. He may have scored lots of goals in that time, but at the expense of anyone else scoring any, and we are a much worse attacking team with him than we ever were without him.
6 for Auba?…for doing close to nothing.
Will be a 10 if he had scored.
This might seem weird but he reminds me a lot of Koscielny. In a dysfunctional team he’s capable of saving us from bad situations (FA Cup last year being a perfect example), but you can never shake the feeling that he doesn’t have that Rolls-Royce quality that a top team would want in that position.
What? For 3 or 4 years koscienly was easily in the top 5 centre backs in the league.
I’d say top three. I remember interview with Lukaku and the CB he hated playing against most was Kos. Others have said the same. He was quick, aggressive and never gave you an inch. Quality player.
I think he was excellent next to Mertesacker, but he also cost us dearly in two massive moments. We’d have broken the trophy duck 3 years earlier without his mistake vs Birmingham, and I’ll never be able to look past his massive fuck up to give Atletico the away goal in Wenger’s last season. He was a good player and easily top 10 at his peak, but I’ve never seen a Leicester/Burnley/Southampton fan argue he was in the world class bracket
That goal vs Birmingham was 100% on Szczesny
Prevented Kos making a simple clearance by barrelling through the back of him, fumbled it
The Atletico error was bad, but he was well past his best by then and his body was breaking down
Y’all should really fuck off.
Malaria is truly debilitating.
It’s a miracle he’s been able to play at all since contracting it. He should be on the sidelines recovering
So why isn’t he? That must be a decision on the manager. Auba looks a shadow of himself at the moment.
Arguably one of the most idiotic comments I’ve ever read on Arseblog. Aubameyang a terrible signing🙈🙈🙈. Do you honestly think we would have won the FA Cup last season without him?
If you imagine last year’s team but without Auba, it is of course worse. But if you imagine an attack with a Laca/Giroud rotation, Pepe in a role that suits him and 60M worth of Ramsey/Cazorla replacements you might start to see my point.
Agree. We paid him for past performance, not future. Biting us big time. Hopefully he and Willian are our last “mistake” signings.
I thought Elneny had a above average game. Partey was excellent in the first half, don’t know what happened in the second half. Also, Auba was below average, he just doesn’t seem to fit in with Pepe, ESR and Saka all interchanging and working well.
Auba is just an out an out goal scorer. Even in his prime at Dortmund he was never a ‘great’ all round player. He was their Walcott. When Auba arrived we still had a decent Ramsey and a functioning Ozil and we still controlled games. Now we play like the mid table teams who used to steal points of us.
Townsend got man of the match…
If any team should have siege mentality against the ref association, the media, their owners.. it should be ARSENAL…
Instead we have Stockholm Syndrome.
*Gets coat
Hahahaha how!?!?!
It’s a retroactive thing for gifting us the second PL spot and a late St Totteringhams Day when he was a Newcastle player and scored against his former Spuds team. It was a beautiful goal and thoroughly deserving of a reward.
…for falling over fewer times than Zaha.
Why didn’t Zaha get a yellow for all his diving around and another for his constant back chat to the ref? Annoys the hell out-a-me!
Before talking about new players, Arteta needs to work on getting this team to take more shots in a game!!
Missed the game but one thing that is noticable is that the sub that could make a change came in minute 78…
More like in the 65th minute.
10/10 – Palace fans singing “same old Arsenal….” – and then their team losing.
Same old Palace…
…always losing!
Taylor is an appalling ref.
How did Chambers get away without breaking his fucking leg? yellow.
How does benteke stay on the pitch, unprovoked elbow to the throat? Yellow for elneny
It’s shambolic……..we know that if Pepe/xhaka etc does eithe of those, it’s red.
If it wasn’t 4 minutes into the game that challenge on Chambers is a straight red all day.
I heard that from the commentators and I was just shaking my head. Why should it matter? Rules are rules and there aren’t any asterisks next to them.
Leno could have done better with the goal? A header from four meters out at high velocity. Okay? Leno kept us in the game and was MotM in my view.
I said MAYBE, because it kinda went under him, but also gave him the highest mark along with Pepe
Easily an 8.
Good first half, shit second half and then the brilliance exploded in the last 5-10 minutes.
How did Benteke not get sent off for that elbow across Elneny’s face?
We don’t need a lot of money to dislodge any of the top 4 sides. All we need are smart moves in the summer.
Auba doesn’t fit in with Saka, ESR, Pepe. Get a Laca type striker.
If Bellerin is going, get an upgrade on Chambers. All the full back in the top 4 teams are better than him.
Sell Elneny; get an upgrade.
Bring back Willock.
Replace Ødegaard.
Was shocked Elneny can play forward passes. Really enjoyed his performance.
If Mustafi had stayed and it was him tracking back to stop Zaha from scoring there would only have been one outcome and you know what it is. Gabriel did really well.
I was there. Palace fans were genuinely incensed with Tierney and then later Saka. Also two guys just to my right gave Holding a whole load of stick right near the end, Holding mouthed something to them so they gave him even more. 15 seconds later and Pepe scores, Holding turns to those fans and just let out the biggest cheer, it was hilarious.. was nice to be back, mainly for that kind of shit
What a top man!
CP played so dirty today. We answered them where it matters by outscoring them.
Have to say though that their fans definitely made a difference. If there were zero fans there I think we would have run out comfortable winners tbh, you could see how the fans galvanised their team just before they equalised. It’s no surprise to me that there have been so many strange results this season.. so glad fans are coming back!
I enjoyed the crowd too. There was a close up of the CP fans towards the end where a group of young lads were giving us wanker hand signals. I laughed hard at that one.
You lucky bastard!
0/10 for Martin Keown giving the MoM to Townsend.
If we win on Sunday and spurs lose or draw we finish above them. I think that’s something to play for. And if Everton lose we’d finish 7th? Is that correct and does that get us into the europa league?
By the way, what is this Europe conference league. Can we turn that down?
Yes, I think we can turn it down and ask for a position in the Champion’s League instead.
The Europa Conference League is football’s version of the Tallest Dwarf in the Village Challenge Shield
I don’t know how Leno gets away with such poor performances, it’s not just about making great saves it’s also about positional awareness, and also being commanding in your own box, Leno really lacks in that department. Overall quite a bland performance by the team, the midfield was toothless and the forwards left frustrated without any meaningful service. Don’t let the win gloss over a painfully boring performance.
Orcs trying to return to the prem I see. Good win I feel. Palace are one of those teams that seem designed to beat us, loads of pace and power with an absolute disregard for rules.
Thomas Partey is still not that great, i have to say!! I really hope he improves next season a lot!!
Nico is a mid-table team’s forward. Capable of astonishing moments of individual quality out of nowhere. Incapable of consistently linking up play, slows play down and has a lousy first touch. So, in other words, perfect for the Arsenal. ‘-)
He’s a winger. Even the very best ones are like that
Elneny was far better than a 6 tonight, Auba was anonymous and you gave them the same rating..?
As I’ve said before, Blogs seems incapable of giving Mo more than 6.5
Good win. With West Ham winning 6th is now out of the question but with Everton playing City and Sp*rs playing Leicester 7th still looks very possible. A St Totteringham’s Day for our worst season in 25 years would be hilarious.
Finishing above Spuds would be nice yes but ever heard of a Pyrrhic victory?
Everyone was clamouring up for Auba to be up front including this Lacazette hater Arseblog. We have played better with Laca up front, facts, he is our top goal scorer in a team that had no creativity for 4 months, facts. If Auba is still suffering from the effects of Malaria then he shouldn’t be starting, full stop. Just coz Arseblog doesn’t wanna go back on his word and is adament that Auba should be starting he gives him a 6, way too generous. He was a passenger. When will people realize that we need a striker who has more… Read more »
In the 1st so many times elneny received rage ball back from KT or Saka and I thought drive in to that space. No, moved it back to gab or partly. Having a player who won’t/ can’t attack space releases the pressure on the defense. You cant match a draft horse with a quarter horse. I so wanted tode in that position to continue the pressure.
Game of two halves. Good the first half with some excellent work. Fall off second half and some iffy moments we could have conceded which we did. Finally got the win but a largel slice of luck. 1) Leno – Saved us a number of times today. Not extended on contract which is unsurprising given dour finish of team. Hopefully we keep him on and get a good second. Like the idea of Ramsdale who was excellent today against Newcastle (even if Willock scored yet again) 2) Chambers – MOTM for us IMO. Excellent work today. Less worried about losing… Read more »
talk about VAR… Schlupp should have seen red
I love Arteta as a coach doesn’t mean i shouldn’t criticize his games because i want to see him winning trophies for Arsenal…..I guess this game was his best changes ever made on pitch…..sometimes I wonder when Ian he going to be consistent, when is he going to have his first Eleven players……he needs to think…… good gave from Leno
Martinelli the Best with any doubt.
Aubameyang MUST BE SOLD once for all, Arsenal cannot accept such a poor striker.
@place 7th.
We could get to Europa League if Chelsea lose the TOP4 a win the CL.
Aston Villa – Chelsea 1,X
City – Everton 1
Liv – Palace 1
Leicester – Spuds 1
AFC – BHA 1
and finally Champions League final:
City – Chelsea 2
Really possible.
Do you really want Europa league games on Thursday nights against the likes of Torpedo Covidisolation FC etc? Don’t see how that is going to attract better players to the club or help lessen the load on an overstretched squad.
Yes I want.
Villareal, Atletico, Chelsea as well?
Entry to CL for winner.
Then to get battered 10 v 2 by the likes of Bayern Munich? We’re a million miles away from being a CL team
For ‘dead rubber’ read ‘death rattle gets thrown out the pram’ with three potential red card offences by Palace players going unchallenged by VAR. That said, we would have struggled to prevail against just 8 opponents. Nice send off for an unfailingly nice man in Woy. The superb opening team goal and closing piece of individual brilliance masked our deficiencies somewhat with Rob Holding in particular guilty of some woeful defending. True to type, Wilf Zaha would have us believe us that although black ice is demonstrably real, it’s green ice that’s causing him to slither to the ground like… Read more »