Result: Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 4 April 2022
Venue: Selhurst Park
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tavares, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Saka, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Holding, Ogungbo, Swanson, Lokonga, Elneny, Martinelli, Flores, Nketiah
Crystal Palace put a dent in Arsenal’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League as they secured a deserved 3-0 win at Selhurst Park.
The home side put themselves in a commanding position inside 24 minutes as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew netted to punish lackadaisical defending. While the Gunners were much improved after the break, chances to halve the deficit were missed and the game was eventually settled by Wilfried Zaha’s penalty, won after he was fouled by Martin Odegaard.
While Arsenal have a game on hand on Sp*rs, Antonio Conte’s men retain fourth place until the weekend thanks to a superior goal difference.
Pre-game
Mikel Arteta made two changes from the side that beat Aston Villa before the Interlull with Aaron Ramsdale recovering from his muscle injury to replace Bernd Leno and Nuno Tavares coming in for Kieran Tierney. The Scotland international is understood to have picked up a knee issue which is something of a worry. Elsewhere, Nicolas Pepe missed out from the squad with illness and Gabriel Martinelli had to settle for a place on the bench with Emile Smith Rowe selected ahead of him on the left flank. Youngsters Zac Swanson, Mazeed Ogungbo and Marcelo Flores, a full international with Mexico, were all on the subs bench. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Takehiro Tomiyasu.
First Half
Matches under the Selhurst Park lights are always noisy occasions and this one was no exception. From the off, both sets of fans traded chants to the same tune with lyrics lauding their respective managers.
On the pitch, the pace in the opening stages was frantic. Palace pressed high and were aggressive in the one-on-ones. In possession, Arsenal tried to slow things down but we were sloppy when we crossed the halfway line.
Neither side had created a chance of any note before Palace broke the deadlock on 16 minutes via a set piece. After White fouled Zaha, Gallagher curled a deep cross to the back post which Gabriel misjudged and Andersen, unwittingly, diverted the ball back to Mateta who was on hand to divert the ball past Ramsdale with his head. For a side who’ve been very good at defending such situations this season, it wasn’t pretty from Arteta’s men. (0-1)
The home side took heart from the early opener and took pleasure in keeping their foot on our neck. Gabriel and Tavares looked particularly nervous and both were at fault as Ayew doubled the lead on 24 minutes. It wasn’t a complicated goal. Anderson played a ball forward that Tavares wrongly assumed Gabriel would win and when the Brazilian didn’t it left Ayew in loads of space to attack the box and despatch a rocket of a shot past Ramsdale. (0-2)
It felt like game over at that point. To get anything from the game, we needed to be ruthless in attack. The sight of Lacazette lifting a lame header over the bar from a Saka cross didn’t exactly get the blood rushing.
Making matters worse, our passing wasn’t crisp or accurate enough. Partey, who has been great in recent months, had an absolute nightmare, giving the ball away in situations that immediately left us having to defend counterattacks. Arteta looked furious on the touchline, chewing the ear off Airpod Albert.
Chances were few and far between for either side in the final minutes of the half although Ramsdale did have to deal with a Mateta drive and Gabriel did his best to get his head on a stoppage-time corner.
Second half
Unsurprisingly, Arteta pulled Tavares from the firing line and chucked on Gabriel Martinelli. Granit Xhaka was moved to left-back, far from ideal, with Partey asked to marshall the centre of the park on his own.
We certainly had more of the ball in the and pressured enough to work two penalty claims only for referee Paul Tierney to wave away the claims by Lacazette and Saka. At the other end, Ramsdale claimed an Andersen free-kick after Partey picked up a booking taking out Schlupp.
We continued to labour in attack. Lacazette looped another head over and Saka fired over wildly before Smith Rowe, with our best chance of the match, tamely struck at Guaita. That was enough for Arteta to roll the dice. Off came Cedric and on came Eddie Nketiah as we went to three at the back.
We created a chance immediately, but Odegaard could only scuff an effort wide following a quick-footed interplay by Smith Rowe and Saka. That was a good as it got before Palace put the game to bed.
Taking advantage of an injury to Partey, who was limping around the centre of the park, Zaha dribbled uncontested into the box with White and Gabriel both backing off. The situation seemed to be under control before Odegaard, who had a poor night, chased back and seemed to clip the Ivorian’s ankles from behind. Referee Tierney waited for a whisker before pointing to the spot. The winger dusted himself down and sent Ramsdale the wrong way with his spot-kick. (3-0)
Saka and then Smith Rowe both had chances to reduce the deficit but the ball just wouldn’t go in as Guaita and Guehi stood firm. With seven minutes remaining, Nketiah dug out a cute curler that clipped the corner of the crossbar and post. It was very much one of those evenings.
After a great run on the road, this is very a night to forget. Coupled with the injuries to Tierney, rumoured to be out for the season, and Partey, it could be a very costly 24 hours at a vital moment of the season.
No two ways about it. With the Partey injury we are no longer favourites for 4th. Without the injury I could be a little more balanced, maybe a little more optimistic. But if Partey is out for any longer than two weeks, I think we are probably done.
Football hey? It’s a real rollercoaster. Amazing what 90 minutes can do. Too many appalling performances to even bother dismantling this one.
Nauseating.
Until Tomi gets back to his former fitness, we have to go with three CBs (White, Gabriel, Holding). Whether Saka plays at left back or we stick with Tavares, Lokonga will have to deputize for Partey, playing alongside. Laca has to sit. If Saka is at RB, Martinelli, ESR, and Odegaard can be our all-action forward line; Pepe can rotate in when the inevitable injury occurs. If Tavares is at RB, Saka has to start in the front three. But as important as he is to the attack, I’d put Saka at RB to get more of our impact players… Read more »
Lokonga alongside, Xhaka, of course.
And LB for Saka/Tavares. Gotta proofread.
what the fuck was that
A one sided mismatch
what happened to partey and odegaard who were so unbelievably excellent until today’s stinker. and how did nuno go from huge talent to two back to back early substitution horrorshows? when is tomi gonna be back, and will lacazette ever complete a 1-2? Tierney and partey injured now as well. this night could not have been worse. here’s hoping we bounce back strong and still manage to make champions league – which got a lot harder after today.
well i suppose 4-0 would have been worse…
Absolute dog shit.
Were it not for the Partey injury, I could put this performance in a box and try and forget about it. But I think if Partey is out for any length of time which looks more than likely, top 4 is gone.
The way he played tonight he won’t be a big loss, he’s so fucking slow and unreliable. He plays a couple of decent games and then reverts to absolute rubbish, he and Lacazette need a rocket up their arses.
Nah. He’s a worldie. But he’s expected to do so much that when he plays badly, it looks really poor.
If people suddenly think Thomas Partey is bang average then just watch what happens when he’s not in the side.
Spot on J4H. 🍺👏
I think you’re forgetting just how bad we were at the start of the season when Partey was injured. He’s had bad games but Thomas has had much better form than Lacazette this season.
Well comparing Thomas and Lacazette is…
Think your digging out the wrong player there, yes he was poor but he’s been brilliant since Christmas. Tavares put the fear of god into Gabriel which completely unsettling the whole defence add to that Zaha tore Cedric a new one last night which we all could have predicted and not a single player played well. My only hope it is that better it happen now rather than later on in the final run-in.
I understand your idea of shelving it and moving on, but this wasn’t a nail biter. That was a troubling step back. Palace had no fear pressing and the defending and finishing were atrocious. Hopefully it was odd brain fart.
Not an excuse, but international breaks are a nightmare; disrupts momentum and injures players. Tierney was sorely missed today!
Crystal palace had a lot of players traveling all the the world as well.
After 30 seconds you knew the intensity wasn’t there. I thought the Spurs performance would mean we came out fired up. But we were timid from the first whistle. Fair play to Palace.
🙁
What a fucking dreadful night. They were squat more up for it from minute 1. Palace is one of the hardest places to go for a late kickoff, and the tv companies know it. They sold us.one here. But that does not excuse the performance. Honestly the worst I can remember for a year. And with the injuries, it may well end the season. When you step back and look at the players in this team. It really is not good enough to be CL this year. It is a bunch of kids and 3 senior pros, 2 of which… Read more »
I’ve got a terrible feeling Arteta is about to make the same mistake two years running. To play Xhaka at left back, it cost us the Europa league and it will cost us again this season. Mark my words. An absolutely appalling day for the club. I’m gutted. Instead of moving on, our whole season now rests on Lacathreat upfront and mr leadboots way out of his depth in defence.
Xhaka only played at left back tonight because Tavares was absolute shite.
We actually looked a bit more solid at the back in the second half because of that – although that was hardly difficult given how bad the defence were in the first half.
You can blame Xhaka for many things, but don’t blame him for Tavares being a sub standard player.
Where did I say I was blaming him tonight?
I am blaming Arteta for using him there last season. Do you even remember the first leg vs Villarreal where’ve was skinned by there winger within 10 minutes and we conceded?
He needs to be a far away from our goal as possible. I’d rather have a poor Tavares there, who at least has recovery pace and room for improvement.
I hate to say this mate, but, knowing Arteta, no doubt your wish is probably going to be granted – at the expense of ECL football next season.
Xhaka has his faults, but he’s an experienced international.
Tavares is a lazy inexperienced sulky kid who can’t be arsed to make an effort.
Big difference.
Xhaka wasn’t at fault for the goals v villarreal
Just seen future Arsenal manager. Can’t begrudge Patrick Vieira
Yep doing an amazing job, would love to see him at the Arsenal one day . Congrats to Paddy V, legend
I thought the same. He’s right there for us – be brave Josh.
Okay. So we stank the place out tonight. But 5 successive away wins before today. Arsenal are 5th with 54 points, still in within a shout for 4th. Palace are 9th with 19 fewer points. So, what’s your point exactly, pun intended.
L😁L. To be fair, Vieira has had some shocking defeats this season too. However, he has pulled off some surprising results too.
I like managers who are capable of pulling off surprises every now and then. Vieira has done the biz against Spurs, City and regrettably, us.
Has to be down there with Goodison Park as our joint worst performance of the season. I weirdly had a bad feeling about this game for some reason, but that was a really, really poor showing.
Yeah hard to match that shambles at Goodison, but we managed it.
I think if Odegaard plays bad we struggle. If Partey plays bad we struggle. If they both play bad this happens.
Saka, Laca or ESR can have quiet games and we are still fine. But without those two, we are really in trouble.
Squad depth fully exposed tonight…
I don’t often agree with you Minty, but you’re spot on here.
If only we had players like AMN who can play as LB!
I don’t think White had a brilliant game either on the ball. Between him, Ødegaard and Partey, that’s the brains of the team and yesterday we were brain-dead.
Palace under the lights is a tough place to go so Sky set us up for that. For me, that’s worse then Everton away cause at least we actually scored at Goodison, Guaita could’ve jumped in the Holmesdale End on the hour & we still wouldn’t have scored
Sky set us up with that? Catch a grip mate.
I meant that in a “Why Monday night” kinda way? Could’ve easily been 12.30 Saturday or flipped us & West Ham around cause they loved giving us Monday night kick offs before Thursday night games last season so why not give West Ham that same treatment?
If we played 12.30 Saturday the excuse would have been not enough rest. The result tonight is on arsenal, players and coaches no one else. We’ve got an deeper more expensively assembled squad than palace who get payed a lot more. They’re players travelled for internationals as well. There’s no excuse, they were better, they played harder
and put in more effort.
This is what happens when your squad players don’t get any game time. Only Sambi came in and looked good. Having said that, we had more than good chances, but they were all missed.
Squad? severe lack of a squad more like.
True, Smith Rowe scores his chance at 2 nil and it’s a completely different game. Although I won’t hold it against him.
He just looked like he hasn’t played a lot. The passing was off from the whole team though.
Martinelli had a really good 45 I thought..
Only him & Saka come out with any credit from that, the rest should hang their heads
Smith-Rowe was decent. And so was Xhaka.
He should have started.
Awful selection decision from Arteta to keep him on the bench – especially with Lacazette ambling around up front and straying offside.
Agreed Lokonga looked good when he came on but also mindful that the team played with a bit more attacking freedom knowing the game was pretty much over. That attacking freedom turned into frustration and poor shots in the last 5-10 mins though.
Sambi has to start now – especially if Partey is going to be out.
Play Elneny and you can kiss top four bye bye.
Doom
This feels like a Birmingham moment. Absolutely stuffed by a mid table team with 2 significant injuries where our only alternatives are two kids who have hardly played. That might be that folks.
I see what you mean. The But I somewhat disagree. Nothing traumatic has actually happened this time around. Plus, Lacazette might also be a French captain but he isn’t prone to temper tantrums.
Ah I remember. Sensational football. Milan away. Five points clear at the top of the table. James McFadden last min penalty. No VAR. Took 1 win from 7 after that.
Feels different this time.
Okay, this was an all-round poor performance… but Smith Rowe, man. At a point, I had to wonder if he was playing for us. Ødegaard as well. Lacazette was just non-existent. Man…
Hopefully we get back from this. In a way, this serves as an indication that we are not quite there yet.
Watch the incomming Lacca hate on the player rating from blogs. The live blog was just him having a go at Lacca at every chance he got. He wasn’t great but 3-4 players were worse tonight
Laca was shit.
The guy is too slow at this level and he is going to cost us big time, the more Arteta plays him.
Blogs was right , the guy is shit how many goals has he scored this season ? There are players in the championship that could do a better job than this guy but for some weird reason a portion of our fan base want him to stay on next season
Don’t disagree that others were bad – they got the same mark as Laca, but the point is what Lacazette is giving as a centre-forward just isn’t good enough, and it goes way beyond one game at this point.
This is a discussion for summer not now.
Out casting Auba and Pepe is something most people agreed on. Now Laca and Nketiah are our only strikers
No.
If you want top four and ECL football next season pal, then it’s a discussion for NOW – not the end of the season when we’ve handed 4th to those cunts down the Seven Sisters road.
Far far far worse players on the pitch tonight than ESR.
Nuno Tavares and Alex Lacazette in particular.
Has Arteta ever come back and won a game after being behind at half time.?
Wolves at home.
Oh yes, thanks, that’s the only game I think. Very worrying
Against Wolves in February I think
The fact that we can all name it, is telling.
Feeble!
Well its good that the boys have a bad performance out of their systems. One thing good about this team is that occasional bad performances have been followed up by some great ones.. Tough day at the office, we move on..
As Theo once said ‘they just wanted it more than us’
I thought about that last night, too. It was another 3-0 away to Palace, as well 🙁
We are in real trouble with these injuries. No plan B kills is again. What I’d give to still have a Giroud type striker…
File away as a bad away day.
Move on to the next really. Nothing to learn from here
Oh we have a LOT to learn from tonight.
Us and the manager.
I had a feeling we’d lose today. Home game next and the perfect chance to get our confidence back. Sambi can do the Partey role. Do we have any other left back options? Because it can’t be Xhaka again
We could try Gabriel there and stick holding in cb but that’s a risk
If we can get Tomi back, maybe we move Cedric to LB. He’s actually done reasonably well filling in.
Hard to see Tomi starting after being out for so long, but if he’s fit, I’d play him on the left and keep Cedric on the right. Tomi is practically ambidextrous and I believe he has played there before?
Man that was the wooooooooRrrsssttt
I’d say that Saka would be our best LB. He’d do a better job than Tierney has provided us this season
I’m more confused than I am hurt.
🙂
Chin up, pal. Not all over yet.
But we need to wake up. And the manager has got some cold light of day facts stating him in the face regarding Lacazette and Tavares.
*staring
We’ve done remarkably well recently with three patently sub-standard players. Adding a fourth was asking for trouble. Tavares unsettles everyone around him. Saka could have been dropped in at left-back tonight – a tricky match where the imperative was not to lose. Martinelli and Smith Rowe would have been on the wings.
I’m at the point where the question is “Do I ever wanna see Tavares in an Arsenal shirt again”, he looked great till Anfield then he had that horrible performance & hasn’t looked the same player in his few appearances since
Glad I’m not the only one.
If Arteta has got any sense, he’ll move him on to the nearest pub side that’ll take him.
Easily the worst player in the current squad.
His what 20/21, he may grow into the league, I’m not saying bin him off completely but he needs something, maybe a loan to somewhere like Southampton just to get use to the pace of the league & get himself some defensive discipline because he seems to forget his surroundings from time to time, even with the manager in his ear on that sideline
Guys it’s fine, this was a smart play to put all our terrible shots, misplaced passes, failed interceptions, uncontested second balls, ill-advised dribbles, penalty giveaways and all-round awful individual performances into one match so we only lose three points.
And then you woke up.
All 3 subs performed better than the starting 11. Best player from the starting 11 was xhaka the rest were dross.(Cedric did ok tbf to him)
Saka nullified by no one feeding him and no one to pass to.
Fucking injuries to Tierney and Tomiyasu are really harming our season.
It’s like the Arsenal curse is back
Can you be a little more optimist?
Nothing positive. I’m hoping we got all of the crap out of us in one match. We move on.
One positive- the fact that Thomas Partey has learned not to hobble over to the side line when injured. Progress made there.
A third of our team had their worst game of the season all at once! Probably best to move along…COYG.
Palace are a good team
These matches happen. It’s about how they react
The Tierney injury is a disaster. However, promising Tavares is he is not ready
Can Pepe step up
How many games has Partey bossed? Good player but not world class
Tram desperately needs our support now though not criticism
*insert “tram” jokes here…gotta laugh no??
What we really needed today was that tram named Desire.
Okay that is brilliant
I fail to see the promise in nuno. He looks pretty dodgy at the back.
‘Tram’ needs to be sold.
ASAP.
Couldn’t have gone any worse
I love Odegaard as much as the next arsenal fan. But when he’s not having his best game, I just wish Arteta would move ESR move more centrally- Allowing ESR to link the play with his quick one touch, forward thinking football and speeding up our attacks. Then bring in a pacey winger ie. Martinelli to hit the flanks with pace and directness.
Poor defending in the first half let us down.
We were never going to score 3 in the second half: we don’t create enough quality chances and don’t have a top striker.
A very disappointing evening
We needed to nick one before half time to have any chance, once we failed at that, you knew it was game done
ESR missed a decent chance in the second half and Oderguard could have scored too. But we just don’t have that cutting edge. Top-quality teams take half-chances: that makes all the difference. Not scoring enough goals has been our major problem for years.
Do not have recollection of Arsenal winning a game after the interlull in recent years, but maybe is is just disappointment speaking…
3-0 was harsh, but we certainky didn’t deserve anything from the game. Palace were excellent, but had some fortune. We just never looked like we’d score. Toothless
Arsenal, at the moment, is like an engine: you need all the parts intact and working at optimum for it to function well.
We have punched above our weight this season.
That this loss is painful, for me, is an indication of how far we have come.
We need two more summer windows to get enough good spare parts for the engine.
Well we had some spare parts that we gave away because we dont rotate
No need to panic just yet, we still have a game in hand and Sp*rs are, well, themselves.
If we keep playing like we have been, we have a good shot at top four.
I’m still a little underwhelmed by our attacking play, but we have improved a lot this season.
These games happen. Just do better next time.
It’s time for The Fab Four to start.
Martinelli up front. ESR on the left, Saka on the right, Odegaard behind them in the No. 10 position.
And FFS put Laca on the bench, out of harms way.
You won’t be underwhelmed by our attack then. 😉
Expected a tough game. Never thought we would give up and not put up a fight. This team wount finish 4th. Maybe 6th. To many injuries and lack a striker that is above championship level. Maybe Next season.
Oh fuck. Where to start. Never let it be said that when our wheels come off the whole fucking undercarriage doesn’t come off as well. I’ll begin with the team selection. What the actual fuck was Martinelli doing on the bench? Ok, we’re missing Pepe as an attacking replacement, but we also had Eddie – albeit he’s been about as effective in front of goal as my missus when she comes in tipsy after a girls night out. In short, Martinelli should have started. Elsewhere, it’s the same old fucking story; namely, our second string guys aren’t up to it.… Read more »
That first goal is such an Arsenal goal to concede. Ball played in, our defender doesn’t jump, attacking player turns his head anticipating our player clattering him in the clearance, ball hits the side of the unknowning attackers head & he gets an assist
The result was dispiriting, but the injury to Partey is devastating. I always thought our chances of top four were slim (even with the games in hand), but I think we’re definitely toast now. Hope I’m proven wrong.
Lokonga is a good player, I don’t get the narrative on here that we’re fucked without partey. He was woeful tonight before he came off.
Lokonga is good. However, the only way we were ever getting top four is if Partey continued to boss the midfield allowing Xhaka and Odegaard to play farther forward. That’s when we started scoring goals. Not only do we need Partey, we need him to be excellent. Since we all know he’s inconsistent that’s why I was never sure about top four. We’ll now have to revert to a double pivot and will struggle to score as we did earlier in the season.
What in the actual fuck was that? I was worried beforehand about this cause Palace, under the lights on a Monday night was a recipe for that to happen. I’m not angry, just disappointed that we seemingly stayed in North London till the game was lost & even then, Guaita could’ve jumped into the Holmesdale End & their goal would’ve still be untroubled
Argh. The chickens came home to roost. The lineup is too thin and we don’t have any consistent scoring.
That means when we have a few defensive mistakes and/or injuries, there’s no way back.
We were absolutely played off the park. We lacked urgency, idea, Partey was way off the mark with his passing, indecisive from Xhaka and the backline was all over the place. Tavares, boy still has a lot to learn on the art of defending. i give everyone a 3 for showing up.
It’s been coming for a while,we have had run of games we should always be winning and some allowed us to get ahead of ourselves, a few wins against teams we are expected to beat doesn’t make us great.
Top 4, not guaranteed by a long shot
Usually start with 10 players as Lacazette does nothing and today we started with 9-Tavares. Awful performance and no one was up for the fight
You must have had hope when super sub Nketiah came on.. no?
(Insert winky face emoji here)
Want to see how we respond. These days happen occasionally like Everton away.
Nobody really thought we would get 4th. Squad is too thin and we have no striker. 5th/6th place has always been the target. 4th this season is ahead of schedule.
Now there is no time for heads down!
Lets push together for top 4!
I’m a man of faith, so I can take this as a bad night away from home. That said, a performance loaded with Arsenal hallmarks: 1. Flat and disjointed performance following an international break (even with an extra day’s preparations) 2. Flat and disjointed performance in a vital match at a crucial part of the season (worst half of football I’ve seen since either half of 2-0 away to Norwich) 3. A devastating accumulation of injuries at threadbare positions at a critical point in the season 4. A worsening goal drought as the season and race for places becomes tighter… Read more »
Not shocking in the least. Was not holding our breath with us making top 4. Deficiencies not addressed in Jan reinforcing an injury prone and quality thin/inexperienced squad will have impact not least main item avoided replacement of Edu. Hopefully we bounce back but the lack of options when a couple of players are out be it due to covid or injury clearly there to see as plain as day. Outplayed by Palace first half. Some good moments for us second but lacking conviction with final application. Saka looks off due to recent bout of covid, Tavares had not had… Read more »
I think Brighton will have a different game plan after tonight,how things change so quickly and dramatically leads me to think this race will go down to the wire.
Always thought Nuno and Lakonga (the forgotten men) would be critical in the run in. Lakonga played OK and with confidence when introduced but need Tomyasu back. Move Cedric to left ? ESR and Cedric were on it in this game but others were sloppy and off the pace, Odegaard had a nightmare. CP targeted Party- Ode link up and in worked a treat.
Could someone tell Martin Odegaard not to step inside our own box? Second stupid penalty he committed, after the one at Man. U.
We desperately need to find two good strikers. Respect to Laca, I like the way he had handled captaincy, and overall like his attitude, but that doesn’t win games. As a striker, he is simply not delivering. Nketiah is below par, and I don’t understand Arteta’s insistence to keep him in the squad.