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Arsenal Inch Past Crystal Palace in Ugly Fashion
By Josh Sippie
A win is a win, even the ugliest of wins. For some reason Crystal Palace always seems to give Arsenal a headache and this was no exception. The Gunners had minimal possession and you’d be hard-pressed to find a player who performed well on the day, but as a team, they won.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace FINAL: 2-1
Arsenal came out slow, but after a ping-pong display landed near Danny Welbeck, he rushed into the box to earn a penalty that was slotted away by Santi Cazorla for a quick 1-0 lead in just the 7th minute.
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Just before half, Arsenal got the only other goal they’d need, as Welbeck’s shot was pushed back into play by Julian Speroni and fell to the feet of Olivier Giroud who put home his 11th goal in just thirteen starts.
From there, it literally was all Crystal Palace. A few fast breaks from Arsenal were done in by near misses and the shoddy playing surface.
Crystal Palace would get one back in the 90th and in heart-stopping fashion, they nearly grabbed another in the last move of the game but they were denied by the post and Arsenal came out victorious.
It wasn’t a pretty affair, but with Manchester United’s win, Arsenal are now in third place depending on what Southampton do tomorrow.
We didn’t get to see Jack Wilshere and I found that hugely disappointing, but with Monaco coming up quickly on Wednesday, we’ll likely only have to wait a couple more days to see him back in action.
Full match report and player ratings coming soon.
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