Arsenal mentality pleases Arteta in opening night win at Palace
Mikel
Arteta praised Arsenal's ability to ride out a second-half onslaught from
Crystal Palace to make the perfect start to the Premier League season with a
2-0 win at Selhurst Park on Friday.
On
the ground where the Gunners lost 3-0 in April to spark a late season collapse
that cost them a place in the Champions League, Arteta's men held out after
Gabriel Martinelli's header gave them a deserved half-time lead.
Marc
Guehi's own goal late on then sealed the three points after Odsonne Edouard and
Eberechi Eze had missed big chances for Palace.
"The
win is the most important thing. To win the first match it builds confidence,
momentum and then we can discuss the things we have to improve," said
Arteta.
"To
win here you need to suffer. We've done it and that is part of the mentality we
want to build."
Arsenal
were beaten 2-0 at Brentford on the opening night of last year's season, which
triggered their worst start to a league campaign for 67 years.
But
they backed up their blistering pre-season form and rewarded the faith placed
in Arteta with over £100 million ($120 million) to spend in the transfer
market.
Gabriel
Jesus' arrival to fill the need for a centre-forward has been Arsenal's marquee
signing of the summer and the Brazilian nearly marked his debut in style after
just four minutes.
Jesus
slalomed through the centre of the Palace defence and when his initial effort
was blocked, Martinelli should have done better than slot the rebound wide of
the target.
The
visitors were utterly dominant in the opening quarter, but it took a set-piece
to make the breakthrough.
Another
debutant Oleksandr Zinchenko nodded a corner back across goal and Martinelli's
header had just enough power to beat Vicente Guaita.
Palace
had suffered a far more problematic pre-season with a number of key players
left at home during a tour of Australia due to their coronavirus vaccination
status.
The
Eagles took half an hour to find their feet, but will be disappointed not to have
at least taken a point once they got to the tempo of the game.
Arsenal
were guilty of causing their own problems in raising the Palace fans from their
slumber as a clearance from Aaron Ramsdale was charged down and fortunately for
the England goalkeeper rebounded to one of his own defenders.
Ramsdale made amends before the break with a fine stop to deny Edouard's header levelling before the French striker had another effort deflected inches over the bar.
Palace
penned Arteta's men back in the second period, but again failed to take their
chances when they came along.
Eberechi
Eze was the most guilty as he fired tamely into Ramsdale's body with just the
Arsenal number one to beat.
"The
difference between the two teams is they score the goals," said Palace
boss and former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.
"We
created two really good chances to score and we didn't take our chances."
Arsenal
had barely even threatened on the counter-attack in the second half, but got
lucky to give themselves breathing space for the final five minutes.
Bukayo
Saka's driven cross caught his England teammate Guehi off guard as the Palace
centre-back's header flew into his own net.
Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a Comment