Arsenal grabbed their second win of the campaign in a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace. The only goal of the game came via a penalty from Gunners’ captain Martin Odegaard, after Eddie Nketiah was fouled in the box.
The game looked set for a tense finish after Takehiro Tomiyasu was shown a questionable red card after two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes under debatable circumstances.
Crystal Palace pushed on for an equalizer late on but Arsenal held their nerve to grind out a narrow victory.
Arteta acknowledges difficult win
Admittedly, Crystal Palace are quite formidable and that statement is well evident in the fact that only two sides (Manchester City and Arsenal) have claimed wins at Selhurst Park in their last 10 outings at home.
Arsenal were not at their best but managed to claim the all-important three points, which is what delighted head coach Mikel Arteta.
Speaking after the game, Arteta said: “I loved it, absolutely loved it. It’s a really difficult place to come. We played how we wanted to play 11 against 11, we dominated the game, we created enough chances, we missed two very, very huge chances that normally we put away, but we never gave up.
“We continued the way we wanted to continue. Eddie earned us the right to go ahead with his action, we scored the penalty and then we had to play half an hour with 10 men, which is obviously a conflict that we didn’t prepare.”
“We had to adapt and I think the players worked fantastically because I don’t think we gave anything away. The subs were great, the way they came out, the concentration, the focus on how they helped the team and changed the team’s momentum in many occasions of the game, so I’m really happy.”
Declan Rice, who put in a fine performance, also shared similar sentiments and was ultimately pleased about the manner of the win for his side.
“Before the game we knew how big coming to Selhurst Park is, especially at the start of the season,” Declan said. “We needed to keep the momentum going, up until when we went down to 10 men we were in complete control, dominated the game, passed the ball so well, and should’ve been two-up in the first half. To score in the second half was really nice and then to hold on with the resilience we showed was perfect.
“If you looked on the pitch, everyone is driving each other. We went into a back three, and the lads didn’t stop talking, Jorgi came on and he was brilliant, he kept pushing and demanding. It’s about seeing the game out.
“They suck the goals in behind the goal here, and they’re a full force when they’re at it so to nullify them and not let them score tonight on their first home game of the season was a big plus.”
