Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal: 3 talking points from horror night

A Serious Reality Check

Having won six out of their last seven, Arsenal was in superb form. However, you wouldn’t have known that given what Arteta’s side dished up in the first 45 minutes.

From the outset, Arsenal was not in the game. At all. Palace dominated the period, and the Gunners couldn’t string two passes together as the pressure applied from the home side was relentless.

If this was deemed as one of the easier matches between now and the end of the season then the team just got a serious reality check. Unless everyone is at their level, and collectively nobody was, you will get found out in this division.

It was as poor of a performance that Arsenal has put forth since the opening day loss to Brentford, and perhaps even worse. Having watched everyone else play and being under the lights on a Monday night, nothing but a strong performance would have sufficed. Instead, the old Arsenal reared its ugly head at the most inopportune time.

It goes to show that on any given night if the side is not with it by even a few percent, they can get pushed around by a team that had the appetite for the contest. A truly disastrous night for the Gunners.

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