But as usual the wheels came off in the second half and a few seconds of inattentiveness allowed the Eagles to get back into the game, and then when Aubameyang was sent off by VAR it looked like Arsenal were on the ropes and heading for another defeat.
But we rallied and held the Eagles at bay, and even came close to winning the game. Surely it is a positive that we didn’t just roll over and give our opponents the game? As our big Greek defender Sokratis said after the match on Arsenal.com: “In the end, if you play with 10 men then yes. But if we watch the game back again we’re disappointed because I think that we played much better than them. We had lots of chances to win the game.”
He also thought that it was only bad luck that Palace equalised at all. “A little bit of it is us switching off and we were also unlucky because the ball came off David. I think that we fought afterwards and in the end we are not happy. We did much better than the other team but a point is a point.”
And of course he was pleased that we showed we could still battle, even when we had to play the last 20 mins with ten men. “We had the chances and we were unlucky.” he added. “I am very happy that we showed this spirit, especially after the red card. I think that this period has been better with what we’re doing right now, that we’re fighting all together, than how it was two or three months ago. We have to look forward, improve and play better of course, but with this spirit.”
So we can all be negative that it was two points dropped, but considering the way we were playing under Emery, I think that the fact that we have now gone three games without a defeat, and are trying hard to win, is nothing but a positive in my eyes.
What do you think?
Admin Pat