Arsenal’s hopes of a Top Four finish were dealt a blow as Crystal Palace produced one of the shocking football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. They trail their North London rivals on goal difference although they have a game in hand. Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring in the 16th minute before Jordan Ayew doubled their advantage in the 24th minute. Wilfried Zaha sealed the win and three points with a penalty in the 74th minute.
Player ratings
Crystal Palace: Guaita (7), Clyne (7), Andersen (8), Guehi (7), Mitchell (7), Kouyate (7), Gallagher (8), Schlupp (7), Mateta (8), Zaha (8), Ayew (8)
Subs: McArthur (7), Milivojevic (7), Edouard (7)
Arsenal: Ramsdale (6), Cedric (6), White (6), Gabriel (5), Tavares (4), Odegaard (6), Partey (5), Xhaka (5), Saka (6), Lacazette (5), Smith Rowe (6)
Subs: Martinelli (6), Nketiah (6), Lokonga (6)
Man of the match: Mateta
Managers Reaction
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: “Congratulations to Palace for the game they played but we made it impossible for ourselves with the way we competed. You have to be physical and run and then you earn the right to play. We were really inconsistent on the ball and that is unacceptable. We were poor, especially in the first half. I apologize to our supporters. We didn’t have the presence today or the composure to dominate the situation so that is what I’m most annoyed with. Some days you are not there and you are late all the time. They got on top of it and had a good atmosphere and we could not get out.”
Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira said: “We played a really good game of football. We defended well and took our chances. We scored in important moments of the game. We needed a big team performance and we did it so we’re really pleased. We wanted to put pressure on and the atmosphere in the stadium allowed us to take that kind of risk.”
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