Crystal Palace vs Arsenal: 10 men Arsenal hold on to a 1 goal lead against Palace

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal has always produced some exciting moments and this match was no different. It was played at the Selhurst Park, home to the Palace fans but in the stadium the Gunners support were also worth mentioning.

10 men Arsenal earned a hard victory through great determination against a young Crystal Palace side at their own home with just a 1 goal lead to spere.

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Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

First Half

Crystal Palace was coming into this match on the back of an away win against Sheffield United whereas Arsenal won their tie against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates. So both the teams were trying to make it two out of two to receive a massive confident boast alongside three points.

The first half started with a swift Arsenal move, and within 2 minutes Martinelli had the sight of goal but unfortunately his shot was blocked by the Palace defense. The opening few minutes were solely dominated by Arsenal, as expected but they didn't manage to create any such goal scoring opportunities.

After a while Crystal Palace took control of the ball and looked like they could trouble Arsenal with their counter attacking prowess. Jordan Ayew delivered two great balls into the box but no one was there to finish them off and Ramsdale came to Arsenal's rescue.

Eze was also able to get a shot away from outside of the box but it was comfortably saved by the Arsenal No. 1. On the other hand, around the half an hour mark Eddie Nketiah came up with the biggest chance of the first half for Arsenal, when he hit the post after being one on one with the keeper.

After that Crystal Palace didn't really go forward in the match, as it was mostly Arsenal. But Ayew did get a sniff of Arsenal's goal when Saliba made a mistake but it was the French defender only who made amends with a beautiful tackle and denied Palace the chance to take the lead.

A minute later Eddie Nketiah again got a chance to break the deadlock but chipped it over the keeper following a slick Arsenal move through Declan Rice. Arsenal then kept possession of the ball and took control of the midfield.

In the 42nd minute of the match, Martin Odegaard forced a save from Johnstone who conceded a corner with his finger tips. Following the corner, a shot by Martinelli did come but it was wide of the post.

Then the referee blew the first half whistle with the score being 0-0 but it was no where near a goalless boring half.

Second Half

Crystal Palace started the second half really well with Mitchell's cross floated across the face of the goal and no one was there at the end of it. Within a few minutes, Arsenal took control of the game and attacked the home team through an array of corners.

5-6 minutes after the restart, Arsenal were rewarded a free kick, just outside the box when Saka tried to escape Jordan Ayew and was fouled by the winger. Martinelli surprised everyone by taking the Free kick quickly onto Nketiah who had been brought down inside the box by Johnstone and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

To everyone's surprise, it was not Bukayo Saka, Arsenal's patent penalty taker, but the penalty was taken by Martin Odegaard. The Norwegian made no mistake from the spot and guided the penalty into the opposite direction of where the keeper went.

Palace looked to come up with an instant reaction to the setback through Ayew, who rattled the side netting to most people's disappointment in the stadium. There did come another opportunity to equalise for Palace, when Eze was awarded a free kick at the edge of the box but he couldn't capitalize on Saliba's error.

Then it was mostly Arsenal who just worked the ball nicely through the midfield region and occasionally tested the Palace keeper, but never really came up with something really convincing.

With about 20 minutes remaining on the clock of normal time, Tomiyasu, the Arsenal fullback who was already on yellow card for time wasting picked up the second yellow card of the match for pulling Ayew's shirt, a very harsh decision considering the contact was little to none.

After being down to 10 men, Arsenal didn't get any sight of goal whatsoever. It was all Palace, who acquired 80% possession for 10 to 15 minutes after the red card was shown to the Japanese defender.

Crystal Palace attacked with all they had but a lack of a striker really cost them in the final third of the pitch. They whipped in a lot of crosses just for the balls to get cleared away by Arsenal's defenders. Arteta made crucial changes, replacing mostly forwards with defenders showing their true attention of attempting to hold on for the rest of the match.

Eze really forced Arsenal to the very end and even tried to earn a penalty, which was denied by the on field referee and there was no interference as their was little to no contact. Jorginho's substitution was very crucial as he slowed the game down and let Arsenal take control of the match, even though they didn't have the ball.

After 7 struggling Gunners minutes of additional time, referee finally blew his whistle to provide Arsenal with three points, maintaining their perfect record in the Premier League.