Crystal Palace defeat is just a blip in Arsenal’s road to the Top Four

Latest loss is not the end of the world is it?

I spoke recently about how things were looking a little too good to be true with Arsenal, where confidence was high, team spirit was apparent and form was good, but that was soon shut down after Monday’s’s unconvincing performance.

But a loss and a dropping of points was always on the cards, especially after you go on a good run, a blip and drop in form is always going to happen but it is only a matter of when, not if.

The much anticipated and long awaited game finally took place on Monday night and Arsenal were blown off the park with 25 minutes on the clock, having seen two goals conceded in a disappointing defensive performance in a first half that we never really showed up in.

We came out in the second half and showed more purpose and defended better, yet a stupid foul by Martin Odegaard on Wilfried Zaha saw a penalty for Palace which meant Zaha putting the Eagles 3-0 up to wrap up all of the points.

To be fair, we didn’t deserve to come away with a point let alone all three and it is well done to Crystal Palace who yet again take points off of us where they destroyed us in the same way they did Spurs in September this season.

But all is not lost as this is not the end of the world! It is a minor blip in a season that is going to bring many twists and turns.

And it is better that we get this blip and the loss out of the way now, where we have time to then be able to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and go again. We must look to be at our best, if not the best, for the remaining games of the season and ensure this does not happen again this season.

Although an unpredictable season where any team can beat any team, Arsenal bounced back from the Liverpool loss and we can bounce back from this, but this time we won’t have an inconvenience of an international break to contend with, so we can focus on claiming back that top four spot once again!

Here’s hoping hey Gooners!

Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_

9 Comments

  1. A blip?
    I didn’t see that as a blip
    The truth is though the score line was not seen coming but the loss and performance has been on the card coming
    In as much as many hear doesn’t want Arteta to be criticized but he contributed a large portion to our problem….
    I even wrote an article here why spurs are in a far better position than us to making top 4

    After what happened in January it’s always going to be tougher
    But has the rest of the squad been managed properly?
    Longonga have done so well in the absence of xhaka so did teveras in the absence of Tierney. When xhaka and Tierney returned though we can all say they are superior players but does that mean puting longonga and Teveras in an exile knowing that any injury to Tierney or xhaka you would revert to them..
    Why can’t you rotate few of the players to avoid injury
    Tomiyasu played insane number of games for a player who is new to the league why not use Cedric and give him a little rest instead of running him to the group

    There are many mismanagements that has brought us here
    If the top for battle comes down to a game with spurs at the lane then we are most likely done

  2. Statistically our worst performance all season.
    Losing 3-zip to a team 7 places and 20 points behind us at the start of play.
    Thankfully the loss has come early and not in the last week of the season. But while it is true Arsenal has resonded strongly to every “blip” the top 4landscape has changed.
    1. We have 3 key players injured.
    2. The significant buffer we had is now just one game.
    3. We just lost a game we factored in to win meaning a game we thought we could afford to lose like Chelsea away we may now need to win. 4. Our main rival for top 4 Spurs now have no other competitions to drain them.They have a decent coach and on paper at least a softer run in and a better goal diffence meaning Spurs have the advantage of the draw if the NLD became the decider. Before Palace it was ours to lose now it is ours to win. But this time next week after we win and Spurs lose all will be well 🙂

    1. Top 4 hopes are over now tierney and partley are out do not have the same quality players to replace them. Cedric has to now play at left back can’t trust tiverus complete liability defensively simply not good enough to play at this level!

  3. In context the first half was a blip, the result a set back

    However I was encouraged by the second half, a number of influential players were still off song but we could have got back into the game

    I thought the challenge on Saka in the box was worth the VAR check it didn’t seem to get, our top goalscorer had a couple of very good chances, Eddie had a good effort that with a bit more curl could have sneaked in and our future Captain completed an unwanted hat trick after making lots of errors in midfield he fluffed his lines with a good opportunity in their box and needlessly gave away a pen in ours

    In truth though we probably didn’t deserve to get back into the game

    Not scoring goals remains our biggest threat to top 4 chances in my opinion, again our centre forward didn’t look like scoring and surely Eddie deserves his first League start opportunity on Saturday, I appreciate that Laca is Skipper and therefore unlikely to be left out if available but it’s got to worth a try to give Eddie a go at some point

    We are still in the fight, keep the faith Gunners

  4. It may be considered a matt opopinion wheth rot not the PALACE result andperformanc ewas only “a blip”. I think it was probably to some extent a blip but what is of fare more real import is thr injuries we got during andprior to thjt game We are now without three key players for probably two or three more games including being without Tierney for the rest of our season.

    THAT cannot seriously be written off as a blip but is a serious setback, that has meant I have already personally layed (in betting) our team to miss top four.
    This injury situation was always our achilles heel and so it has proved. We do not have an adequate left back just now, Tavares being unusable and though I forecast a narrow win against Brighton , it does look to me, more likely than not, that we will miss 4th place, I deeply regret to say.

    Of course I HOPE TO BE VERY WRONG, BUT ON THE BALANCE OF PROBABILITIES I NOW EXPECT US TO MISS OUT ON 4TH.
    I also agree with much of what Fingers Furnell writes (above) and esp about playing Eddie instead of the increasingly ineffective and fast tiring Laca.

  5. Getting top 4 is becoming increasingly difficult specially considering the form of the Spuds. We have to go on a consistent winning run now, no excuses. With the injuries it will be very difficult but we have no other option but to win as many games as possible to stand any chance of making it to the top 4.

  6. Cedric..Gabriel..Holding..White…..that should be our defense….how did Arteta miss that

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