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Crystal Palace and Arsenal took each other on at a full Selhurst Park on Monday evening, but even the extremely vocal support from the stands couldn’t help the home side avoid a narrow defeat. The only goal of the game came in the 54th minute and was the work of Martin Odegaard, who produced a calm execution from the penalty spot, after referee David Coote judged Palace goalkeeper Sam Johnstone to have fouled Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah inside the box.
The game flow
Arsenal mostly dominated the first half and created a couple of highly dangerous chances, but still couldn’t find a breakthrough. Their lineup, with Kai Havertz and Odegaard playing ahead of Declan Rice in midfield, showed clear attacking intent. They continued pretty much in the same manner into the second period, until Odegaard’s shot from the spot finally got them ahead.
Naturally, Palace then started showing a bit more determination in their play and pushed higher up the pitch, and when the referee decided to show Arsenal defender Tahekiro Tomiyasu a questionable second yellow card in the 67th minute, their hopes obviously rose high.
In the end, the numbers in the contest were pretty close, with the Gunners controlling the ball for 54% of the time and taking one shot more (three) on target. On the other hand, the two teams took a total of 14 shots each, and as good as their team usually is, Arsenal had to resort to time wasting towards the end in an effort to avoid conceding dropping potentially vital points.
Nketiah is no Jesus
Many eyes have been turned towards Eddie Nketiah since the start of the season. The 24-year-old is, of course, a stand-in for injured Brazil star Gabriel Jesus in Mikel Arteta’s starting XI, and he so far has one goal in two Premier League matches for his team. It was an important strike, breaking the deadlock against a very resilient Nottingham Forest side in the opening game of the season, which ended in a 2-1 victory.
This game also revealed a lot of his quality. Nketiah certainly has pace, the ability to turn with the ball in small spaces and create a shooting position for himself, and a knack for getting into chances in a number of ways. The fact that he was the player to win the decisive penalty should be mentioned here.
However, Nketiah lacked proper composure to finish off at least one of those chances; the closest he got was hitting the post from close range in the first half. In the 79th minute, he made way for midfielder Jorginho as Arteta sought to close the game down in a controlled way and avoid any late surprises.
The overall feeling from Nketiah’s input so far that he’s a useful squad player, but hardly more than that for a team that aspires to fight for the Premier League title. Nketiah is good, but Arteta will surely be ticking off the days until Jesus is back in action, which should be some time in mid-September. His understudy will likely have a chance to do more against Fulham, Manchester United and Everton, but Jesus should be back for the North London Derby on September the 24th.
Controversies
Naturally, the VAR will have checked Coote’s penalty decision which eventually settled the game, and there was no real doubt about it being left to stand. There was certainly no intention from Johnstone to foul Nketiah, but the Palace goalkeeper was late and made unmistakable contact with the feet of the Arsenal striker. It was an easy call.
On the other hand, the referee’s decision to show Tomiyasu a second yellow card and send him off has caused quite an uproar. On closer inspection, it didn’t seem certain that there had been a foul committed at all, let alone one warranting a booking. And a second booking, at that. Unfortunately, as it wasn’t a direct red card, it wasn’t in the jurisdiction of the VAR to conduct a check, so there was no choice for the Japanese defender but to leave the pitch.
To make matters worse for the Premier League and the already shaken reputation of its officials, Coote wasn’t the only trigger-happy referee in this round. In Liverpool’s 3-1 triumph over Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday, Thomas Bramall sent off Alexis Mac Allister directly for what he deemed a dangerously reckless tackle. Despite the footage showing things differently, Paul Tierney in the VAR room did not send the on-pitch referee to the monitor and the decision was left to stand, until Liverpool’s appeal got it subsequently overturned.
Early table rankings
The victory at Selhurst Park made Arsenal one of the three Premier League teams still with a 100% record, with six points from two matches played, and they now sit behind Brighton and Manchester City on goal-difference as they await Fulham at the Emirates in the next round.
As for Palace, they triumphed over Sheffield United in the opening round, and the three points won that day have Roy Hodgson’s men in a six-pack of teams with that tally, between places eight and 13. The Eagles travel to face Brentford next, which will likely prove another tough test to take.
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