Hectic Week For Palace Ends With Arsenal Thrashing At Selhurst

It ended up being a game to far for a paper thing squad of players who have put in the effort during the three games in a week which ultimately told in a poor second half display.

 

MATCH INFORMATION

21 December 2024 – 3pm

Crystal Palace 1-5 Arsenal

Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

 

PLAYER RATINGS

1

Dean HENDERSON

4.9

17

Nathaniel CLYNE (58 Caleb KPORHA 80 mins)

5.9 (6.1)

6

Marc GUEHI ©

6.6

5

Maxence LACROIX

6.5

26

Chris RICHARDS

5.6

3

Tyrick MITCHELL

6.6

8

Jefferson LERMA (28 Cheick DOUCOURE 68 mins)

6.0 (6.1)

19

Will HUGHES (55 Justin DEVENNY 68 mins)

6.0 (6.1)

18

Daichi KAMADA (9 Eddie NKETIAH 61 mins)

5.9 (6.0)

7

Ismaila SARR

7.2

14

Jean-Philippe MATETA (15 Jeffrey SCHLUPP 81 mins)

6.6 (5.9)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joel WARD, 27 Trevoh CHALOBAH, 30 Matt TURNER, 64 Asher AGBINONE

 

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

22

David RAYA

7.4

49

Myles LEWIS-SKELLY (33 Riccardo CALAFIORI 58 mins)

6.5 (7.1)

6

GABRIEL

7.1

12

Jurrien TIMBER (23 Mikel MERINO 86 mins)

6.8 (6.1)

2

William SALIBA

6.5

8

Martin ODEGAARD

7.0

5

Thomas PARTEY

7.6

29

Kai HAVERTZ (41 Declan RICE 58 mins)

7.8 (8.3)

11

Gabriel MARTINELLI

8.3

7

Bukayo SAKA (19 Leandro TROSSARD 24 mins)

6.2 (6.7)

9

Gabriel JESUS (53 Ethan NWANERI 86 mins)

9.7 (6.2)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 11 Gabriel MARTINELLI, 29 Kai HAVERTZ, 36 Tommy SETFORD, 47 Maldini KACURRI

 

TEB VERDICT

This ended up in being a harsh scoreline on the Eagles but the second half display gave the visitors every opportunity to add to their first half tally.

The statistics do not always paint a true picture, but it was the scoreline that was questionable with Oliver Glasner being philosophical at the final whistle.

Daniel Munoz was a huge miss, as was Ebere Eze as was arguably Trevoh Chalobah, and while Ismaila Sarr continues to impress this really smacked of a result at the end of a very busy and tiring.

No need for excuses and often having to place the same opponents in the same week is never ideal, Glasner and the players will move on and attempt to address some of the short giving’s from this performance.

The results signals the end of a good run that have given Palace some daylight from the bottom three and plenty of work to do, with games against Bournemouth and Southampton to come before the end of the year.

 

 

BOB’S POINT OF VIEW

Bob White was a coach at Palace under the tenure of Steve Coppell and Alan Smith and will be sharing his point of view each week in our review article.

“Ultimately, after three tough competitive games in seven days, it proved a game too far.

The limited options to realistically rotate was clear for all to see. It is a timely reminder that our squad requires at least two key additions as in early January. Without them, we have a team who will often be running on empty for the rest of the season.

Conceding three rather soft goals in the first half made it a mountain to climb in the second period. The marking was poor in all three goals with player ball watching. A fine finish by Sarr to equalise gave fans something to cheer, but apart from a couple of good opportunities missed, we offered little else.

The time-wasting antics of Arsenal at times made the game difficult to watch. One wonders with the obvious talent at their disposal why they need to resort to such tactics when two goals clear.

The difference in resources was summed up when Arsenal brought on Declan Rice, at £105million, more than the total of our whole playing squad!

Two important games over Christmas, when probably four points are required to continue a move up the table and away from the relegation zone.

It was difficult to pick out any standout performances in what became an easy win for Arsenal, but perhaps a mention in dispatches for both Sarr and Mitchell. “

 

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“In football, sometimes it’s crazy. When I compare the performance in the first half, to how we played at the Emirates in the cup, it was far better today. But we were 3-1 down, and over there we had the lead, so it’s crazy because I thought we did many things well.

The first goal was a cross, the second was a set-play and the third was a cross where we don’t mark the man. We defended the box terribly and the quality of their players they punished us. If you want to beat a team like Arsenal, everything must be almost perfect, it was not good enough today.

We created chances but the result is disappointing. In the box, there were too many times where we watched the players.”

MIKEL ARTETA

“A very good week. It is always weird to play the same opponent twice in three days. We started well, then conceded and the team reacted so well. To score five goals away from home in this league is never easy.

 

MATCH STATISTICS

Star Man

Gabriel JESUS (9.7)

Goals

Gabriel JESUS (6, 15), Ismaila SARR (11), Kai HAVERTZ (38), Gabriel MARTINELLI (60), Declan RICE (84)

Assists

GABRIEL (6), Tyrick MITCHELL (11), Declan RICE (60), Riccardo CALAFIORI (84)

Most shots

Ismaila SARR (5)

Most tackles

Marc GUEHI (6)

Most dribbles

Marc GUEHI (3)

Team rating

6.12 – 7.20

Total shots

15 – 14

Shots on target

6 – 6

Yellow cards

GABRIEL (31), Jurrien TIMBER (36), Marc GUEHI (64), Nathaniel CLYNE (79)

Red cards

None

Possession

41.6% – 58.4%

Pass success

81% – 88%

Passes

392 – 552

Dribbles

4 – 8

Aerials won

13 – 19

Tackles

25 – 14

Fouls

9 – 8

Corners

3 – 3

Saves

1 – 3

Dispossessed

11 – 11

 

UPCOMING FIXTURES

DATE

TEAM

LOCATION

COMPETITION

KICK OFF TIME

26/12/2024

Bournemouth

Away

Premier League

3pm

29/12/2024

Southampton

Home

Premier League

3pm

04/01/2024

Chelsea

Home

Premier League

3pm

 

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