Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in a thoroughly entertaining spectacle on Sunday afternoon to put their Premier League campaign firmly on track.
Olivier Giroud netted an acrobatic effort early on to give his side the lead, and in truth, the Gunners could have been four up by half-time, but a slew of chances were missed, and a Joel Ward fizzer from outside the box levelled matters before the break.
Another flurry of chances, this time for both sides, were missed in the second half, though Alexis Sanchez forced an own goal from Damien Delaney to put Arsenal back ahead, and the north London club held on.
"We really needed those three points to bounce back after the performance at home when we lost to West Ham [United last week]," Giroud told Sky Sports 1 after the match. "We really wanted to play our game, and we could have killed the game earlier."
Here B/R picks its winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Olivier Giroud
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The competition for places at Arsenal is fierce, with every area of the squad stacked with talent. Who gets the nod up front has truly become a weekly debate for both Arsene Wenger and the fanbase as a whole.
Olivier Giroud, therefore, emerges as a winner from Sunday's action. The pressure is on to perform and deliver when you play as the Gunners' No. 9, and he did well, netting a wicked strike early on and contributing to some absolutely gorgeous passages of play.
He gave Arsenal the lead and put them in a position to score several more; it wasn't Giroud missing chance after chance at 1-0 up, it was his colleagues. The Frenchman's overall game looked excellent.
Loser: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made a bad mistake last time out, dribbling aimlessly out of defence against West Ham before being robbed of the ball. Seconds later, it had been slammed past Petr Cech and the score was 2-0.
But it must be said that over the course of the first two games—including the Community Shield—he was one of the Gunners' best players—if not the best. That makes the decision Arsene Wenger took on Sunday to drop him to the bench for a clearly half-fit, blunted Alexis Sanchez sting all the more.
It makes it clear that no matter what the Ox does, he will never stand a chance of commanding a regular place in this side, with Aaron Ramsey—a far worse performer against West Ham—retaining a wide role ahead of him despite the fact he's naturally a central player.
Even though Ox's cameo was good, and he may get another chance in the future, it just doesn't look likely he'll stick in this side. Wenger's preference was blatant here.
Winner: Mesut Ozil
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Crystal Palace spent 82 minutes trying to work out how to stymie Mesut Ozil's remarkable creativity levels, then breathed a collective sigh of relief when he left the fray. The problem is the damage had already been done.
Numerically, the German created five chances, per WhoScored.com, and grabbed one assist. But football's not always about figures, and the truth is Ozil was a joy to watch on Sunday.
His cross for Giroud was somewhat unique in terms of delivery—a stabbed yet also lofted effort into a dangerous area—and the delayed passes he was pulling off while building attacks were truly sublime. The one that set up an Aaron Ramsey blasted shot in the second half smacked of world-class ability.
Santi Cazorla was given Sky Sports' official Man of the Match, and he was excellent too, but Ozil pipped everybody with a brilliant showing. If he continues in this vein of form, there'll be no stopping him; he's one of the Gunners' most important peripherals as they look to launch a genuine Premier League title challenge.
Loser: Referee Lee Mason
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Lee Mason started off pretty strongly in this game, getting the majority of calls right, but things went south just before the half-time whistle blew.
Francis Coquelin was rightly booked for a professional foul in the 41st minute then oddly let off just minutes later for a very similar offence. WhoScored.com's Ben McAleer tweeted his belief that the Frenchman should have been shown a second yellow on the spot, and most agreed.
Then, about 35 seconds later, James McArthur brought down Coquelin and was given a yellow card for, you guessed it, a professional foul. It was salt in the wounds to Palace fans; not only did Mason fail to send Coquelin off, but their player was immediately booked for a challenge on the original perpetrator.
In the second half, Coquelin received a final warning after a third yellow card-worthy challenge, and Arsene Wenger substituted him immediately, counting his blessings.
Winner: Spectators
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What a game. What an absolutely brilliant game.
Crystal Palace and Arsenal delivered what was arguably the finest spectacle of the season so far, combining for 31 shots, three goals and numerous clear-cut chances, per WhoScored.com.
As the Mirror's Ed Malyon tweeted, 80 per cent of the game appeared to take place in the final thirds. The middle third was skipped entirely, with energetic, box-to-box, high-tempo football on show.
Olivier Giroud's goal was great, we saw one own goal, Connor Wickham hit the post, and Joel Ward's grass-cutter can be watched over and over again. Good showings from attacking players—particularly Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha—made for an attacking, open game.
