Five things we can take from Arsenal’s draw with Crystal Palace

Arsenal dropped points yet again in their Premier League game against Crystal Palace.

That was Mikel Arteta’s second consecutive away draw as Arsenal manager and it seems this Arsenal team still can’t buy an away win, here are five things we learnt from the game.

A good start is becoming a habit

One of the bad habits Arsenal had under Unai Emery was their slow start to games. However, under Mikel Arteta, the Gunners seem to start the game more proactively and that continued here.

Until Palace scored, Arsenal controlled every bit of the game and made sure they were in charge from the kick off.

Arsenal still needs to learn to kill games off

The Gunners went into the lead in this game and should have dictated it from then on, but they seemed to relax and allowed Palace to get into the game.

The Eagles finally got their equalizer and the inability to kill the game off was costly for Arsenal.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s red card is a big test for Mikel Arteta

After scoring the opener, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang was red-carded. I am eager to see how Arteta will get goals without the Gabonese attacker and that is now arguably his biggest challenge to date.

There is Martinelli though, so not all his doom and gloom.

Many Arsenal players don’t turn up in away games

One habit that most people would have noticed about Alexandre Lacazette is that the Frenchman is always on his best form when he plays at the Emirates.

This has been the case for quite a few of Mikel Arteta’s squad, they tend to run away from responsibility when not at home and Arteta has to fix that soon. Not enough of them are taking on their share in away games.

We are on the right track under Mikel Arteta

Points may have been dropped in this game, but I believe we’re on the right track under the Spaniard.

The lads were down to ten men and yet could have still won the game. That in itself is a huge improvement.

18 Comments

  1. Taking out the first 30 mins, the players somehow put up a much better performance after going a man down. That’s good for a change – not seeing the team completely overrun simply because we lost a player.

    1. I hope you remember that Arsenal have come from behind to win a game this season despite being down to 10 men.

      1. David, unfortunately it doesn’t fit the narrative because of who the head coach was at the time.

  2. OT.. Am amazed that 2 Liverpool players were booked 😱 Thought Robertson should’ve been though for his tackle…
    I don’t know whether to laugh or cry having sat through most of that!

  3. We lose Aubamayang for the games against Sheffield PL, Chelsea PL and Bournemouth FAC.
    Please correct me if I’m wrong.

    1. It is not yet certain how many games he will miss. Likely to be three but not yet decided. It may not be seen as quite as bad a tackle as it looked in slo mo replay. I hope for only a two game ban and that is a possibility.

  4. A committed effort, Mikel has a game plan, can you believe that Papa made a goal line clearance?Improvements are there, with these players I feel the performances are getting better than those for the past 3 seasons.Keep going Mikel.Top 6 looks certain, top 4 and a cup seems possible.

    1. “Top six looks certain?” Not to a realist like me, my self deluded friend. As for top four, dream on. I properly consider likelihoods and never waste time “dreaming”. THAT IS WHY I AM A SUCCESSFUL PRO BETTOR and not a self deluded mug that the bookies love.

      1. I’ve had a glass of vino and your reply made me hoot with laughter
        I must confess that top 6 is looking dodgy and a top 4 would take a miracle. A cup win is at least possible
        Hope in some cases, springs eternal

  5. I’ve seen a complete turn around with our away performances since Arteta took over and can’t fault anyone, not even Laca 🤔

  6. The board should have made the appointment earlier. Especially during the international break. We cant afford to drop more points. We need a winning run. Top managers need marque signings. We should go all out for Lewis Dunk, Rakitic and Thomas Partey this January. We need goals from our midfielders. It was a foolish decision not to keep Ramsey. Lacazette should be a bit more composed. He rushes his decision making. For now, we can play Pepe or Martinelli in the striker role.

  7. Definite progress all round. Structure, commitment and intent. Well done Arteta for improving things so swiftly. Long road ahead to get back to where we want to be but believe we have a great manager at the helm.
    Rome was not built in a day and there will be some bumpy times ahead until we turn over some of the personnel. Feeling confident we can have a good shot at the Europa League if we keep improving.
    As for Top 4/6, this all depends on whether other teams falter. I am not too concerned, just hopeful we will keep improving game by game.

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