Arsenal vs QPR Report: Win Preserved!

It’s never easy to play any Premier League team down a man. And Arsenal found themselves in that situation due to Olivier Giroud’s 53rd minute red card. You can’t dispute the decision. It wasn’t a full-blown headbutt, he did get shoved, and there was a major flop, but when you go in with a full head of steam like that, you’re going to get a red card (and a three-match ban to boot).

But in the end, an Arsenal win was preserved as they squeaked out a 2-1 win over the unfortunate Rangers.

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Eight minutes in, Alexis Sanchez drew a deserved penalty, but unfortunately for the Chilean, it was a meek attempt that never really had a chance of finding the back of the net. But Alexis would recover, as he always does.

Kieran Gibbs prodded up the pitch in the 37th minute and put an excellent cross into the box that found the head of Alexis to open Arsenal’s scoring, and that would be the score heading into the half.

Straight out of the half, Giroud was sent off after a mere eight minutes and Arsenal had to feel the strain.

But it didn’t show.

In the 65th minute, Alexis found himself on a breakaway with options all around and he picked the best, feeding a rejuvenated Tomas Rosicky for a brilliant team goal.

From there, Arsenal looked fairly composed for being a man down. QPR never looked a threat until the dying moments but Arsenal stymied the tide and pulled out a needed three points.

Next up: West Ham on Sunday.

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