TTH.VN - After the opening whistle, Arsenal took the initiative to hold the football to push the attacking team high. Meanwhile, Palace played quite firmly and was ready to press from the opponent's field. Even more surprising when the new visitors were the ones who had extremely dangerous opportunities in the 7th minute…
Arsenal have a welcome to Crystal Palace in the match that ends on the late night of March 19 in the 3th round of the English Premier League. In the middle of the week, the Gunners suddenly fell to Sporting Lisbon on penalties, thereby officially being eliminated from the Europa League arena. However, almost everyone knows that the North London team is not deep enough to dream of going deep in the European Cup and conquering the Premier League title. Meanwhile, everyone understands that the number one priority of Mikel Arteta's teachers and students must be to win the Premier League. So being eliminated in the Europa League could be good news for Arsenal, because they will be fully focused on the domestic front. In the Premier League, the Gunners are still in great form. After a stumble against Man City in February, they have won all of the last 28 rounds. Last week, Arsenal just crushed Fulham with a score of 1-2 right away, although this is not an easy opponent to play. In the Premier League alone at home, Arsenal also won the last 5 matches. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace played very badly at this stage. In all competitions, they have 3 consecutive matches without winning, receiving 0 defeats in the last 2 matches. It was this bad result that both led coach Patrick Vieira to receive a dismissal. Without a captain to steer the ship that is going astray, Palace is likely to be 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 hold the football to push up the attacking team. Meanwhile, Palace played quite firmly and was ready to press from the opponent's field. Even more surprising when the new visitors were the ones who had extremely dangerous opportunities right in the 7th minute, when Zaha had a dribble and then turned inside to finish dangerously and put the ball into the post and then hit Ramsdale's foot before going all the way. It took nearly 7 minutes for the Gunners to have an answer with a shot right near the penalty area of Odegaard but failed to beat goalkeeper Whitworth.
By the 28th minute, the pressure that Arsenal created was concretized by the opening goal. Receiving the ball from Ben White, Saka dribbled the ball on the right wing and then threw a cross inside. Martinelli controlled the ball neatly in the box and then fired a left-footed shot to the far corner to knock Whitworth down.
Arsenal's play after taking the lead is more diverse and unpredictable. Meanwhile, Palace had a little difficulty to deploy the attack. In the 41st minute, from a messy phase, the ball reached Odegaard's feet, but the Norwegian midfielder's shot sent the ball wide. And in the 43rd minute, the difference was doubled for the Emirates Stadium team. After Martinelli's annoying cross, the ball reached Ben White's feet and the defender had a clever slot for Saka to skillfully sink into the far corner, bringing Arsenal's second goal. VAR came in but the goal was valid for Arsenal. The first half ended with a score of 2-1 in favor of the home team, and the gap could be even wider if Partey's heart attack in the 2th minute did not send the ball wide.
Schlupp scored the only goal for the visitors. Photo: Internet
Entering the second half, Arsenal continued to press Palace. The home team seems to want to score more goals because the distance of 2 goals is not really safe for Arteta's teachers and students. After 2 minutes, the Gunners got their third goal. From the combination with Trossard, Xhaka escaped quickly in the left corner. Despite being closely followed by the opponent's defender, Xhaka still managed to put the ball into the net at close range.
At this point, Palace has nothing to lose, they also try to raise more to stop the citadel. In the 63rd minute, the away team had a goal to shorten the score due to Schlupp's attack with a quick move from close range when Arsenal's defense was confused in the previous corner defensive situation.
But just over 10 minutes later, the three-goal gap was restored when a new substitute for Tierney had a precise cross for Saka to hit the volley accurately, not giving Withworth any chance to save.
In the end, the Gunners won a strong 4-1 victory over Palace and temporarily beat the defending champion Man City to 8 points when the blue half of Manchester had to play in the FA Cup and could not play in this round.
Huy Thanh
