Considering that this was Arsenal’s third game in six days and away in a local derby, the end result was not the disaster that some people think it is. You can’t blame Unai Emery for not being too disappointed with the result, despite our defensive frailties. When asked if has unhappy that we didn’t move closer to the League leaders, the Spanish coach said: “A little bit. I think we are in our process, in our way, and I think we are in a good position now, for continuing our objective. It’s difficult away and I think the team can improve. I think today, the draw was not bad. We want to win but it’s not easy. We look at today and they are a good team. Playing here is not easy for every team, but our challenge is to continue our process of learning in every match. It’s about learning the defensive situations and improving.”
Emery also felt that we were not at our best, while Palace were desperate to get the points as well. “The two teams are sad I think. For us the first half was not easy. When they scored it is the moment when we are on the pitch with the control, but not doing a lot of things in the attacking third. In the second half we scored two goals in two actions. They were pushing with their supporters and every player was attacking us. In this moment we needed the control because we lost our position and we needed to have scored the third goal, we needed to be calm. We cannot do a good transition from this. I wanted to push, I wanted to continue to find our moment to win the match, but we could not.”
Well to be fair 11 wins and a draw from our last 12 games is hardly a bad run, despite the disappointment. But now we can do a bit more rotation for the Carabao Cup game against Blackpool on Wednesday and hopefully have most of our players fresh again for when Liverpool come to the Emirates next Saturday. If we win that one we will only be one point below Klopp’s team.
Onwards and Upwards!
Sam P