Arsenal: What to Watch for Against Crystal Palace

After about 80 minutes of last weekends game I was ready to throw my TY out the window. Upon talking to all my fellow writers I realized that, although we were all disappointed, we all had our own reasons. First and foremost though, Arsenal played like they had never walked onto the same pitch together, ever!

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Yet despite all the possible problems we have all read about, one thing is for sure: Arsenal are not in crisis mode. The season is long and one game does not determine the outcome of anything that happens next year. So I’m going to try and not make any predictions based on what happened last week.

Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal

1) Cech still needs to get used to the system

If one thing was clear from that first goal Arsenal gave up last week, it is that Cech is still trying to get use to a new system. Cech’s inability to judge those floating crosses are not helped by Arsenal’s constant reliance on such a high line against set plays. It is because of that that Arsenal are bound to give up at least one goal this weekend.

Cech is a great keeper and he will make this squad better; it is too early to criticize him. I am always one for giving players multiple chances to understand a new team and new surroundings. Cech is no different, however he knows it and all of us know it, if he messes up again it will not be pretty.

2) Arsenal’s attack might not gel but there is a lot to look forward to

The Ox is legit! Despite a horrible performance by everyone on that pitch last week, there were some positives we could have taken from it all. For one, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain was quite impressive at times. His display of speed and power is something to marvel at. However, last weeks performance also shows there is still a lot of room for improvement.

I, for one, believe that Arsenal’s attack was too one dimensional last week. Giroud showed no ability to get behind the opponents and made things worse by not finishing the opportunities he got in front of goal. Everyone else made no effort to help Giroud in the box and most of the time Chamberlain was making crosses to a box with one team mate in it.

Yet these are all things that will improve as the guys get more games under their feet. Look for a much better effort attacking-wise this weekend.

Seriously two goals isn’t asking too much from this team right?

3) Silly mistakes are so Arsenal

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If the first goal demonstrated Cech’s lack of familiarity to the system he was in. The second goal was a demonstration of Arsenal’s amazing ability to make silly mistakes all the time. Up until that point I was happy that despite everything, Chamberlain was playing well and had an edge to his game. Then he coughs up the ball a few yards away from his own box, while trying to rush the ball downfield.

If there are any American Football fans reading this, you will definitely understand it when I say the following: Coaches hate nothing more than turnovers and if Arsenal was in the NFL, they would lead the league in turnovers. For those who don’t watch the NFL, it is simple, Arsenal give the ball away too easily, and too often. Sometimes it is better to slow things down and look up rather than run down the pitch with no care for ball security.

Look for Arsenal to cut down on those mistakes, but look for one of the few mistakes they make to come back and haunt them on Sunday.

Next: 5 Arsenal Players Bound to be Underrated in Fifa 16

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal Preview: Crisis or Not

By Brian Wong | Aug 16, 2015

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