Crystal Palace XI: Hennessey, Ward, Kelly, Sakho, Schlupp, Milivojevic, Cabaye, Puncheon, Zaha, Townsend, Benteke
Arsenal XI: Martinez, Bellerin, Mustafi, Gabriel, Monreal, Xhaka, Elneny, Walcott, Ozil, Sanchez, Welbeck
Andros Townsend smashed in from close range, Yohan Cabaye whipped a right-footed shot over Emiliano Martinez before Luka Milivojevic's penalty settled the affair with Arsenal majorly lacking going forward.
Milivojevic curled wide. M ohamed Elneny soon registered Arsenal's first shot on target, forcing Wayne Hennessey into a smart save.
Arsenal's
top four rivals all won at the weekend but their hopes of leaving
Selhurst Park with three points took a huge blow as Palace surged
into the lead. Smart build-up play involving Cabaye saw Wilfried Zaha
played in down the right and the Ivory Coast international picked out
former Tottenham man Townsend, who made no mistake in firing high past
Emiliano Martinez.
The
Gunners looked to respond quickly but Alexis Sanchez's drilled shot was
simple enough for Hennessey. The Chile international was once again at
the heart of Arsenal's attack moments later, seeing a cross-shot drift
wide with Danny Welbeck looming.
Palace
came close to doubling their lead twice in a matter of minutes with
Martinez saving from Christian Benteke's fierce drive while a
combination of Gabriel and Shkodran Mustafi headers were required to
clear the resulting corner.
Arsenal
soon pressed for an equaliser, with Welbeck's half-volley fizzing wide
before Gabriel's header from a corner was held by Hennessey in the last
action of the first-half.
Despite
the Gunners needing a win to keep their Champions League hopes for next
season alive it was Palace who started the second period brighter, with
Benteke first seeing a shot deflect wide from close range before he
rightly had a goal ruled out for offside.
Despite
large amounts of Arsenal pressure Palace soon doubled their lead, with
Zaha again turning provider and crossing similarly for Cabaye, with the
midfielder sweeping an effort beautifully over Martinez to put Palace
firmly in control.
Any
hopes of an Arsenal comeback were obliterated as Palace grabbed their
third of the evening. Townsend tapped the ball past Martinez and went to
ground, winning a penalty which Milivojevic confidently converted to hand Arsene Wenger a fifth Premier League defeat in eight games.
No comments:
Post a Comment