Much of the pre match talk was about the return of Arsenal boy Jack Wilshere. He returned to full training a week back and was expected to be part of the squad.
Arsenal had not lost at Selhurst Park for over 30 years but faced a rejuvenated Palace side, taken charge by Alan Pardew. He lifted the team from clutches of relegation into the bottom half of the table.
Everyone knew this was no easy game, but Arsenal were boosted by the fact that Palace's in form player and former Gunner Chamakh was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Also Sanogo was ineligible to face his parent club.
For Arsenal Ospina continued in goal, with Chambers filling at RB for the injured Bellerin. Mertesacker and Koscielny partnered at CB with Monreal out on the LB position.
In midfield Cazorla and Coquelin were part of a deeper midfield duo with Ozil playing in his favoured no 10 role.
Sanchez and Welbeck started out in the flanks and Giroud led the line. Walcott and Wilshere were among the substitutes.
FIRST HALF
It was visible right from the off that Monreal was considered Arsenal's weak link and one Palace were looking to exploit. Zaha was given the ball and expected to take on Monreal for pace and even succeeded early on.
However Arsenal took the lead from the spot, after Welbeck was fouled by Souare. It looked like the foul was outside the box but the penalty was awarded and Cazorla made no mistake finishing it with aplomb.
Coquelin should have probably been sent off for what looked a very harmful high boot tackle on Campbell. He however escaped without any card at all surprisingly.
Then, with half-time approaching, Arsenal doubled the lead through Giroud. Alexis giving a perfectly-weighted ball to Welbeck. Danny advanced at goal and, Speroni saved his attempt, was powerless to stop Giroud from converting the rebound.
It was us having a 2 goal lead although we seemed far from convincing. A very interesting statistic from the game-this was the ninth successive game in which Wenger’s side have scored during the first half hour. During the beginning of the season we struggled for early goals so it is a good positive change.
SECOND HALF
Palace started the 2nd half with much more intensity, but the game plan was the same- pass to Zaha, beat Monreal, cross. It didn't work in the first half and did not seem like it would in the second.
Ozil then had a header flick the crossbar after Alexis crossed. For all of Palace's intent Arsenal had superb pace to punish Palace on the counter.
The first half both sides were narrow and openings seemed rare, the second was understandably a much more open as Palace needed a goal back. Just before the hour mark it should have been 3-0 to Arsenal after some lovely work by Ozil to set up Sanchez, he missed his attempt by a very small margin, but one you would expect the Chilean to score.
Palace had a decent chance when Dwight Gayle headed over a cross. The warning signs were there for the Arsenal, one they did not seem to heed to.
Puncheon then had a decent free kick attempt just missing the goal with Ospina rooted to the spot. Had that gone in we would be in so much more trouble.
Wenger brought on Gibbs and Rosicky to slow the game down and help Arsenal defensively. Later on towards the end Gabriel was brought on for his league debut.
None of this helped however for too long. After some defensive scramble Glenn Murray scored his first league goal in over a year as Palace pulled the score to 2-1 with 91 minutes gone. There were 3 minutes left to go.
Luckily for us Murray hit the cross bar with almost the last touch of the ball when he should have scored. 3 points the most important thing, especially as United and Southampton dropped points so we sit in 3rd for this weekend atleast.
PLAYER RATINGS
13: David Ospina (6): Had a few scary moments rushing out on set pieces. Hardly looking confident in the past few weeks.
21: Calum Chambers (6): RB just does not seem like his position. His lack of pace is very apparent.
4: Per Mertesacker (7): 7/7 in aerial duels and made 20 clearances. Had a decent game.
6: Laurent Koscielny (7): Did what he had to do, but still seemed unconvincing at times.
18: Nacho Monreal (6): Was exposed badly by Zaha. Luckily for him Zaha's end product was lacking. Did improve as the game went on to his credit.
34: Francis Coquelin (6.5): Should have had a red card early on. Otherwise made a few important interceptions but also gave the ball away a few times.
19: Santi Cazorla (7): Scored a goal and had a decent game overall. Everytime he got the ball it was inevitable that he would be on the receiving end of a rash tackle from Palace players.
23: Danny Welbeck (7.5): Won the penalty and was also the reason for getting the 2nd goal. Decent performance from him, but he needs to start scoring more goals.
11: Mesut Ozil (7): Put some decent passes through, especially creating a chance for Alexis after some decent dribbling.
17: Alexis Sanchez (6): Not a great game for the Chilean who has now gone 5 games without scoring.
12: Olivier Giroud (7): 8 goals in 11 games and his 50th for the club. Proving a great acquisition, especially for 12 million.
SUBSTITUTES
3: Kieran Gibbs (6): Hardly did anything of great significance.
7: Tomas Rosicky (6): Ditto.
5: Gabriel (N/A): On for his league debut.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Arsenal had not lost at Selhurst Park for over 30 years but faced a rejuvenated Palace side, taken charge by Alan Pardew. He lifted the team from clutches of relegation into the bottom half of the table.
Everyone knew this was no easy game, but Arsenal were boosted by the fact that Palace's in form player and former Gunner Chamakh was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Also Sanogo was ineligible to face his parent club.
For Arsenal Ospina continued in goal, with Chambers filling at RB for the injured Bellerin. Mertesacker and Koscielny partnered at CB with Monreal out on the LB position.
In midfield Cazorla and Coquelin were part of a deeper midfield duo with Ozil playing in his favoured no 10 role.
Sanchez and Welbeck started out in the flanks and Giroud led the line. Walcott and Wilshere were among the substitutes.
FIRST HALF
It was visible right from the off that Monreal was considered Arsenal's weak link and one Palace were looking to exploit. Zaha was given the ball and expected to take on Monreal for pace and even succeeded early on.
However Arsenal took the lead from the spot, after Welbeck was fouled by Souare. It looked like the foul was outside the box but the penalty was awarded and Cazorla made no mistake finishing it with aplomb.
Coquelin should have probably been sent off for what looked a very harmful high boot tackle on Campbell. He however escaped without any card at all surprisingly.
Then, with half-time approaching, Arsenal doubled the lead through Giroud. Alexis giving a perfectly-weighted ball to Welbeck. Danny advanced at goal and, Speroni saved his attempt, was powerless to stop Giroud from converting the rebound.
It was us having a 2 goal lead although we seemed far from convincing. A very interesting statistic from the game-this was the ninth successive game in which Wenger’s side have scored during the first half hour. During the beginning of the season we struggled for early goals so it is a good positive change.
SECOND HALF
Palace started the 2nd half with much more intensity, but the game plan was the same- pass to Zaha, beat Monreal, cross. It didn't work in the first half and did not seem like it would in the second.
Ozil then had a header flick the crossbar after Alexis crossed. For all of Palace's intent Arsenal had superb pace to punish Palace on the counter.
The first half both sides were narrow and openings seemed rare, the second was understandably a much more open as Palace needed a goal back. Just before the hour mark it should have been 3-0 to Arsenal after some lovely work by Ozil to set up Sanchez, he missed his attempt by a very small margin, but one you would expect the Chilean to score.
Palace had a decent chance when Dwight Gayle headed over a cross. The warning signs were there for the Arsenal, one they did not seem to heed to.
Puncheon then had a decent free kick attempt just missing the goal with Ospina rooted to the spot. Had that gone in we would be in so much more trouble.
Wenger brought on Gibbs and Rosicky to slow the game down and help Arsenal defensively. Later on towards the end Gabriel was brought on for his league debut.
None of this helped however for too long. After some defensive scramble Glenn Murray scored his first league goal in over a year as Palace pulled the score to 2-1 with 91 minutes gone. There were 3 minutes left to go.
Luckily for us Murray hit the cross bar with almost the last touch of the ball when he should have scored. 3 points the most important thing, especially as United and Southampton dropped points so we sit in 3rd for this weekend atleast.
PLAYER RATINGS
13: David Ospina (6): Had a few scary moments rushing out on set pieces. Hardly looking confident in the past few weeks.
21: Calum Chambers (6): RB just does not seem like his position. His lack of pace is very apparent.
4: Per Mertesacker (7): 7/7 in aerial duels and made 20 clearances. Had a decent game.
6: Laurent Koscielny (7): Did what he had to do, but still seemed unconvincing at times.
18: Nacho Monreal (6): Was exposed badly by Zaha. Luckily for him Zaha's end product was lacking. Did improve as the game went on to his credit.
34: Francis Coquelin (6.5): Should have had a red card early on. Otherwise made a few important interceptions but also gave the ball away a few times.
19: Santi Cazorla (7): Scored a goal and had a decent game overall. Everytime he got the ball it was inevitable that he would be on the receiving end of a rash tackle from Palace players.
23: Danny Welbeck (7.5): Won the penalty and was also the reason for getting the 2nd goal. Decent performance from him, but he needs to start scoring more goals.
11: Mesut Ozil (7): Put some decent passes through, especially creating a chance for Alexis after some decent dribbling.
17: Alexis Sanchez (6): Not a great game for the Chilean who has now gone 5 games without scoring.
12: Olivier Giroud (7): 8 goals in 11 games and his 50th for the club. Proving a great acquisition, especially for 12 million.
SUBSTITUTES
3: Kieran Gibbs (6): Hardly did anything of great significance.
7: Tomas Rosicky (6): Ditto.
5: Gabriel (N/A): On for his league debut.
HIGHLIGHTS: