5 Things we learned from Arsenal’s Nervy Victory over Crystal Palace

After an absolutely beautiful, well-deserved goal by Olivier Giroud off of a pristine cross from Mesut Ozil, Arsenal took their first lead of the Premier League season. They were in complete control the entire first half with very little relief coming for the Crystal Palace goal.

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One relief they did find was on a stray strike by Joel Ward to beat Petr Cech. Call it out of the blue, because it was.

But in typical Arsenal versus Crystal Palace fashion, the Gunners pulled one out on a brilliantly won header by Alexis that took a deflection off of the Palace defense and into the back of the net.

From there, Arsenal were all about protecting the ball, and it was no easy task. An early yellow card to Francis Coquelin left Arsenal literally walking on glass and a change had to be made as the Ox came on for the Coq, dropping Ramsey and Cazorla to the holding midfield position. That was quickly augmented by a surprisingly spry Mikel Arteta, who replaced Alexis, despite the Chilean’s questioning.

Kieran Gibbs soon found his way onto the pitch as well, coming on for Mesut Ozil as the parked bus got even more parked.

Crystal Palace put up a stellar fight as always and as always, Arsenal squeezed out an incredibly nervy 2-1 win. Given that it was their first win after an extremely disappointing West Ham loss, there were plenty of things to take away from the match. Here are five things we learned, aside from how to hold our breath for 90 minutes.

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