Playing with 10 men, Arsenal made it two wins in a row to open the season.
Arsenal overcame a numerical disadvantage to defeat Crystal Palace 1-0 in the second leg of their 2023-24 English Premier League (EPL) match at Selhurst Park in London, England, at 4 a.m. ET today. With the win, the Gunners continued their strong start to the season with back-to-back wins to open the campaign.
In crunch time, Arsenal shined. The Gunners were outnumbered in the 22nd minute when fullback Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off for accumulating cautions, but they held on for the three points through Martin Ødegaard’s late winner.
Arsenal came out with a 4-3-3 formation. With Eddie Nketiah up front, the attacking pairing of Gabriel Martinelli and Xherdan Shaqa formed a midfield combination of Kai Havertz-Martin Ødegaard-Declan Rice. The back four was Thomas Partey-Ben White-William Saliba-Takehiro Tomiyasu, with Aaron Ramsdale in goal.
Crystal Palace started Odsonne Edouard up front, with Jordand Ayew, Eberechi Eze and Jeffrey Schlupp backing him up. Yepersson Lerma and Sheikh Doucoure started in central midfield, with Joel Ward, Joachim Andersen, Mark Gehi, and Tyrrell Mitchell in the back four, and Sam Johnston in goal.
The game started out with Arsenal dominating possession and controlling the game, while Palace were on the counterattack. In the 14th minute, Arsenal had the first real chance to break the deadlock when Xhaka found the back of the net on a counter-attack. However, a defensive block prevented him from scoring. In the 15th minute, a cross from the flank by Aubameyang was blocked by Ramsdale, and the next two attempts by Palace in the space of two minutes were calmly saved by Ramsdale. 안전놀이터
It was Arsenal who wept at their goalkeeping misfortune as they allowed Palace to look the more threatening. In the 29th minute, they won the ball under pressure on the opposition right and Xhaka played an exquisite penetrating pass to Nketiah on the edge of the box. Nketiah, after a clever ball-trapping move, surged forward with a turn and then, despite being pushed back by the competition, fired a sharp shot on goal. However, he was unfortunate to see his shot bounce off the left post.
In the 35th minute, Palace had a chance on the counter-attack when Aubameyang dribbled through on goal. However, he was tackled by Saliba inside the penalty box and couldn’t get a shot away. Saliba made amends for his own mistake earlier in the game.
In the 36th minute, Arsenal had another one-on-one chance with the keeper. Rice, who had penetrated to the edge of the penalty area, played an exquisite pass to Nketiah, who found himself open on the right side of the box, but his chip shot sailed just over the keeper’s height.
In the 42nd minute, Ödegaard hit an audacious mid-range shot from the edge of the box that Johnston tipped over the bar. In the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Palace also failed to get a decent shot on target as Eze failed to beat a challenge inside the penalty box. In the end, the first half was a