Should Arsenal worry about Big Sam effect at Crystal Palace?

It may well have been a bit more nerve wracking and close than most Arsenal fans were hoping for, but at least the Gunners did get back to winning ways with our narrow Boxing Day victory over West Brom. That victory and the three points it brought us got Arsenal back on track but in order to have any serious hopes of lifting the Premier League trophy in May that needs to be the first of many league wins.

Next up is struggling Crystal Palace and with the game being played at the Emirates stadium on new years day and looking at Palace’s league position and recent form you might think it is another three points in the bag, except for the fact that they have a new manager in the shape of Sam Allardyce and according to a Sky Sports report the Palace defender Martin Kelly reckons that the Big Sam effect is already making itself felt at Selhurst Park.

They were unlucky to only get a point off Watford yesterday and Allardyce will have them fired up for Arsenal, make no mistake. They can also take heart from the fact that despite losing against Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Man City this season, only one of those defeats was by more than one goal, the 4-2 loss to Liverpool.

That shows you that Palace are a good side and with the new manager giving the club a lift, should Arsenal be worried that our next opponents are likely to be very hard to beat?

Bob.

6 Comments

  1. Palace will arrive at the Emirates with the injection of the boosted confidence that a new manager brings. Like WBA, I expect their approach to the game to be mostly negative /cautious and celebrate like they’ve won the league if they leave with a point.

    Allardyce’s usual approach to playing Arsenal is to get physical. Unfortunately for him, that type of player does not exist in the current Palace squad. With the likes of Zaha (who I rate), they will pose more of threat than WBA on the counter attack. They are not as secure at the back as WBA and are therefore more susceptible to conceding goals. If they concede one goal and they will look to their manager for guidance. If they concede two goals (without reply), I imagine that they’ll fall apart. Confidence is a fragile thing.

    Coincidentally, when we play Swansea (later on this month), it will be the third time this season that we will be up against a team with a new manager.

  2. Sam has been a very effective manager in the PL nit in the least in his battles against Wenger.

    I am sure the palace game will be more difficult one for us now. Having said that, this being only his second game in charge, we have the advntage to play them now and not in a month time when he had more time to put his stamp on them. I think we are lucky that way and have an adavantage over those top 6 candidates who have yet to play Palace.

    1. Interest point of view. I would have preferred to have played the Pardew Palace than the Allardyce Palace.

  3. The Allardyce factor does make things more difficult. We know now that they’ll be told to get over physical, targeting some of our players with overzealous tackling. I hope we get a fair referee, sometimes with these games when Arsenal don’t look ready for the battle, the refs can allow allot of things go. And in games like this when Arsenal look to really bring it to them, the ref will stamp things out. I feel the other side in these type of games can get the ref’s favor sometimes. In the past I felt it was because of facing teams from up north, which happens to be where the majority of ref’s hail from.

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