Eze Goal Sinks Palace in 1-0 Win

Arsenal recorded a win and yet another clean sheet vs Crystal Palace in a relatively drab affair at the Emirates, their 10th clean sheet this season in 13 games, a truly incredible stat, it was also the fourth match in a row where they conceded no more than one shot on target.

Arteta made two changes from the 4-0 win Vs Atletico with Riccardo Calafiori returning to the XI in place of Miles Lewis Skelly and Leandro Trossard getting the nod ahead of Gabriel Martinelli. Oliver Glasner meanwhile made 3 changes from their shock 1-0 loss to Cypriot side AEK Larnaca in the Europa Conference League as Jaydee Canvot, Mark Hughes and Jefferson Lerma were replaced by usual starters Chris Richards, Daichi Kamada and Adam Wharton.

The match had a slow start and hardly anything of note happened in the first 10 minutes save for a free kick won in his defensive half by William Saliba. In the 12th minute, Palace had a counter-attack opportunity when Sarr carried the ball into Arsenal’s half, but Gabriel Magalhães cut out the final pass before the situation could become more dangerous. In the 21st minute, Ismaila Sarr had a shot blocked from inside the box.

By the 24th minute, Arsenal were dominating possession and building several attacks but without much success and Adam Wharton still managed a shot in the 26th minute but it was off target. During one of these attacks, a cross from Leandro Trossard was cleared at the far post by a Palace defender.

The game was conservative as is the typical Arsenal match and the next real action came in the 33rd minute after a shot from Leandro Trossard was saved by Dean Henderson. Arsenal were however ahead in the 39th minute, with the only goal of the game coming from former Crystal Palace man Eberechi Eze who scored his first Premier League goal for Arsenal with a shot into the bottom corner after Gabriel had headed on a ball from an initial free-kick delivery by Declan Rice. This gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead.

Just before half-time, around the 44th minute, Eze had tried his luck from outside the box as Arsenal tried to double their lead before the break but the shot was blocked and Arsenal took their 1-0 lead into half time.

At the start of the second half, there was a substitution for Arsenal as Cristhian Mosquera came on for William Saliba in the 46th minute. Arsenal started the second half brightly in search of that 2-0 cushion and they were perhaps unlucky not to get it in the 50th minute after Gabriel hit the bar with a header from another Declan Rice delivery from a free kick, who himself fired the rebound back at goal but had it saved by Dean Henderson. Trossard had a shot blocked and Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure but Palace remained defensively solid.

Palace then made a change of their own in the 59th minute, bringing on Eddie Nketiah for Yéremy Pino, before Arteta made another substitution, taking off Bukayo Saka for Gabriel Martinelli in the 66th minute.

Viktor Gyokeres was the next to come close to doubling Arsenal’s lead in the 68th minute and he perhaps should have but his header from close range from yet another set piece situation went wide. Two minutes later, former Arsenal man Eddie Nketiah could have levelled the scores but for a great save by David Raya. Palace then made another substitution in the 74th minute, with Daichi Kamada coming off for Will Hughes.

In the 79th and 80th minute, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi had shots either blocked or headed wide and it was looking increasingly likely that there wouldn’t be another goal in the match. In the 82nd minute, Arsenal made a double substitution, bringing on Piero Hincapié for Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino for Declan Rice, in the 88th Miles Lewis Skelly came on for Eberechi Eze in an attempt to shore up the defence by Mikel Arteta. .

From the 80th minute into stoppage time, Palace pushed hard for an equalizer. However, their passing accuracy in the final third dropped. Arsenal managed the game by retaining possession and forcing Palace wide.

There were initially 6 minutes of added time but it extended into the 8th minute because of delays including another round of substitutions from Crystal Palace that saw Adam Wharton, Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz all taken out for Jefferson Lerma, Borna Sosa and Christantus Uche respectively.

The final whistle blew, and Arsenal held on to win 1-0. The result maintains their lead at the top of the league by 4 points over second placed Bournemouth but Arsenal are also 7 and 6 points above Liverpool and Manchester City respectively after both lost their matches.
Up next for Arsenal, an away trip to Burnley, while Palace host Brentford.