Arsenal faced off against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park earlier this afternoon hoping to continue their remarkable winning run across all competitions. The Gunners began the match a bit slow as the Eagles created some fantastic opportunities in front of the Arsenal goal. Wilfried Zaha hit the post, and Andros Townsend missed a sitter, but the home team still managed to take the lead just before half-time through Luka Milivojevic’s penalty.
Unai Emery’s men came out strong and managed to score just six minutes into the second half through Granit Xhaka’s stunning freekick. The Gunners completed the turnaround in the 55th minute through Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s goal despite a clear handball by Alexandre Lacazette in the lead up to it. However, Roy Hodgson’s side refused to give up and scored an equaliser from another Milivojevic penalty to earn a well-deserved point from the contest.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player performed during the contest against the Eagles.
GK: Bernd Leno – 6.5/10
It was another solid performance from the German keeper! Leno read the game well and impressed with his ball-handling capabilities but couldn’t do much about either of Milivojevic’s penalties.
RB: Hector Bellerin – 5/10
The Spaniard missed a great chance to score in the first half. He got subbed at half-time after sustaining a knock.
CB: Shkodran Mustafi – 4/10
He made a reckless challenge to give away a penalty so late in the first half. Mustafi found it difficult to cope with the threat of the pacey Palace attackers.
CB: Rob Holding – 7/10
The youngster was superb at the back for the Gunners, and despite a couple of nervy moments, he performed immaculately at the centre of the Arsenal backline.
LB: Granit Xhaka – 5/10
He scored with an excellent freekick but was guilty of giving away a cheap penalty which ended up costing the away side two points from the game.
CM: Lucas Torreira – 6.5/10
Not playing at his best, the Uruguayan still sprayed some nice passes to justify a start in Emery’s first-team.
CM: Matteo Guendouzi – 6.5/10
The youngster worked tirelessly in midfield but was ineffective while feeding balls to the forward players going forward.
RM: Alex Iwobi – 6/10
He found it hard to get himself into the game down the right flank. Iwobi will be hoping for better days in an Arsenal shirt.
CAM: Mesut Özil – 5/10
He played a brilliant pass to set up Bellerin in the first half. However, the German was unusually quiet for the remainder of the game and was rightfully subbed midway through the second half.
LM: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6.5/10
The Gabon international managed to score and give Arsenal the lead despite not being able to do much throughout the rest of the contest.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 5/10
The Frenchman was guilty of giving away the ball in the lead up to Palace’s equaliser. Overall, he was not able to impose himself into the game and looked like a striker out of form.
Substitutes:
RB: Stephan Lichtsteiner – 6/10
He looked solid at right-back after coming on to replace Bellerin at half-time.
CM: Aaron Ramsey – 5/10
The Welshman got a half chance to score with his header, but he completely misjudged the flight of the ball.
ST: Danny Welbeck – 5/10
He made one darting run on the counter but couldn’t score the winning goal for his team.
