Destroying Palace, Arsenal puts pressure on Man City

TTH.VN - After the opening whistle, Arsenal took the initiative to control the ball and push up their formation to attack. Meanwhile, Palace played quite solidly and were ready to press from the opponent's field. It was even more surprising when the away team had an extremely dangerous opportunity in the 7th minute...

Arsenal will host Crystal Palace in a match that ends late on March 19 in the 28th round of the Premier League. In the middle of the week, the Gunners unexpectedly fell to Sporting Lisbon on penalties, thereby officially being eliminated from the Europa League. However, almost everyone knows that the North London team does not have enough depth to dream of both advancing deep into the European Cup and conquering the Premier League championship. Meanwhile, everyone understands that the number 1 priority of Mikel Arteta and his team must be winning the Premier League. Therefore, being eliminated from the Europa League could be good news for Arsenal, because they will be able to focus completely on the domestic front. In the Premier League, the Gunners are still in great form. After stumbling against Man City in February, they have won all 5 recent rounds. Last week, Arsenal crushed Fulham 3-0 away, although this is not an easy opponent. In the Premier League alone, Arsenal have won both of their last two home games. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace have been playing very poorly this period. In all competitions, they have gone 12 consecutive matches without a win, losing 7 of their last 4 matches. This poor result has just resulted in coach Patrick Vieira being sacked. Without a captain to steer the ship that is going astray, Palace are likely to come away empty-handed in this somewhat unequal London derby.

Saka continued to shine with a double. Photo: Internet

After the opening whistle, Arsenal took the initiative to control the ball and push up the formation to attack. Meanwhile, Palace played quite solidly and were ready to press from the opponent's field. It was even more surprising when the away team had an extremely dangerous opportunity in the 7th minute, when Zaha dribbled the ball and then turned inside to shoot low and dangerously, hitting the post and then hitting Ramsdale's feet before going out of bounds. It took nearly 7 minutes for the Gunners to respond with Odegaard's shot right outside the penalty area but could not beat goalkeeper Whitworth.

In the 28th minute, Arsenal's pressure was materialized with the opening goal. Receiving the ball from Ben White, Saka dribbled skillfully down the right wing and then crossed the ball inside. Martinelli controlled the ball neatly in the penalty area and fired a left-footed shot into the far corner to defeat Whitworth.

Arsenal's play after taking the lead was more varied and unpredictable. Meanwhile, Palace struggled to launch their attacks. In the 41st minute, from a messy play, the ball came to Odegaard's feet but the Norwegian midfielder's shot went wide. And in the 43rd minute, the gap was doubled for the Emirates team. After Martinelli's difficult cross, the ball came to Ben White's feet and this defender had a smart pass for Saka to skillfully shoot low into the far corner, bringing Arsenal's second goal. VAR intervened but the goal was valid for Arsenal. The first half ended with a score of 2-0 in favor of the home team, and the gap could have been even wider if Partey's curling shot in the 45th minute had not gone wide.

Schlupp scored the only goal for the away team. Photo: Internet

In the second half, Arsenal continued to pressure Palace. The home team seemed to want to score more goals because the 2-goal gap was not really safe for Arteta and his team. In the 55th minute, the Gunners scored their third goal. From a combination with Trossard, Xhaka quickly escaped to the left corner. Despite being closely followed by the opposing defender, Xhaka still managed to skillfully put the ball into the net from close range.

At this point, Palace had nothing to lose, they also tried to push higher to attack the goal. In the 63rd minute, the away team had a goal to shorten the score thanks to Schlupp with a quick shot from close range when Arsenal's defense was confused in the previous corner kick situation.

But just over 10 minutes later, the 3-goal gap was re-established when the newly substitute Tierney made an accurate cross for Saka to volley accurately, giving Withworth no chance to block.

In the end, the Gunners won a resounding 4-1 victory over Palace and temporarily moved 8 points ahead of defending champion Man City, as the blue half of Manchester had to compete in the FA Cup and could not play in this round.

Huy Thanh

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