EPL: 10-man Arsenal defeats Crystal Palace to maintain perfect league start

Chimeremeze FavourAug 22, 2023

Arsenal made it two wins from its opening two Premier League matches after claiming a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Only Manchester City and Brighton have won their opening two games, but the Gunners joined them on six points after a narrow success at Selhurst Park.

10-man Arsenal defeats Crystal Palace to maintain perfect league start — Eddie Nketiah brought down in the penalty box. Source: Getty

Palace made it difficult for the Gunners at Selhurst Park, but ultimately didn’t have the quality to find an equaliser. They defended well and looked a threat when able to counter, especially when winning the ball high up the pitch.

After the first half, the game took on a similar pattern, but then on 51 minutes, a quick free-kick sent Eddie Nketiah into the box, Sam Johnstone charged out, dived and knocked him over with the ball gone, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Though Martin Odegaard converted the penalty kick, Arsenal made it hard for themselves after Takehiro Tomiyasu was shown a second yellow card on the 67th minute which led to him being sent off.

The red card was the first shown to an Arsenal player since May 12, 2022, and it swung all of the momentum over to Crystal Palace.

Their best chance of equalizing came in the 87th minute when Tyrick Mitchell’s whipped ball into the middle got the better of Ben White, only for Odsonne Edouard to head his effort wide of the mark.

In the end Palace failed to break Arsenal’s resolve, with the Gunners taking home all three points.

Speaking on his team’s performance after the match, Mikel Arteta said;

“I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It’s a really difficult place to come. We played how we wanted to play 11 against 11, we dominated and created enough chances. We had two huge chances and normally he [Eddie Nketiah] puts them away but we never gave up.

“We continued playing the way we wanted to and Eddie earned us the right to go ahead with his action. Then we had to play the final half an hour with 10 men which is a context that we didn’t prepare but we had to adapt and the players were fantastic as I don’t think we gave anything away. I’m really happy.”