This was a dark day for Arsenal, with our recent mini revival washed away in a tide of disappointment as Crystal Palace inflicted more misery on our season with a thumping victory. The Wenger debate will be back in force and any hopes of a top four finish are looking optimistic to say the least. BY the end of the game the whole team had gone. It was embarrassing.
To be fair to Arsenal I thought we started the game pretty well against a very pumped up Crystal Palace roared on by a vocal home support, as well as being in good recent form and fighting for survival. The Gunners stood up pretty well and showed the sort of effort that was needed, but with our own confidence still low the nerves were on show and the fluency was hard to find.
There were chances for both sides and with Arsenal dominating the ball and the home side lookingh dangerous on the break it was well poised but when Palace scored the balance tipped heavily in their favour. There was an element of luck to their goal but that’s football. Lost confidence, increased pressure and having to chase the game was not going well for us to say the least.
After the break it was horrible and seemed just a matter of time until the emergised Eagles increased Arsenal misery. We managed to survive for 10 frantic minutes though and started to threaten ourselves but Arsene Wenger had seen enough and made two chganges much earlier than usual.
Giroud for Welbeck and Ramsey for Elneny seemed the right move, although it would have been Xhaka for me as he was not doing much. There was no time for these subs to impact the game before Palace hit us with another hammer blow, with another slip in the build up working for them. I am not saying they did not deserve it because they were much the better team.
Now was the chance for Arsenal to show their fighting qualities. Was anyone really surprised it did not work out that way? MInutes later it was three with uncertainty at the back giving Palace a debatable penalty. I do not want to say much about the rest of the game, except it was awful and just about the worst support for an under fire masnager you could imagine.
Bob.