Ex-Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira did his former side no favors as he led his current group of Crystal Palace players to a three-goal win over the Gunners on Monday night. Palace went two goals up before the break – and Wilfried Zaha added a third in the second half.
Arsenal failed to displace rivals Tottenham from the top four and squandered one of their games in hand following their Monday night defeat to Palace. Led by the Arsenal great Patrick Vieira, the South London outfit stunned the Champions League hopefuls by going two-nil up within the first 25 minutes of the match – a lead which was extended in the second half by Palace’s talisman Wilfried Zaha from the spot. In doing so, the Eagles have registered their first home Premier League victory in 2022.
Mikel Arteta’s men trailed after the 16th minute. Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher delivered a cross from the left wing to the back post, where centre-back Joachim Andersen had peeled off his marker and made a run to the blindside of the last man to meet it. The Dane headed the ball back towards the middle of the box, and striker Jean-Philippe Mateta found himself in enough space to get his head to it and divert it past Aaron Ramsdale in goal.
Andersen, again, played a key role in Palace’s second, eight minutes later. The Denmark international played an incredible diagonal pass from just inside his half into the feet of Jordan Ayew.
The Ghanian had cut into the inside channel from the right flank, leaving the Arsenal left-back Nuno Tavares on his wrong side. His first touch was heavy but unpunished, as the centre-back on his side, Gabriel Magalhaes, had lunged at the first ball and was badly out of position; his second ended up in the back of the net.
Arsenal did create opportunities to get back into the game. Two big ones fell to Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard, respectively, but they both spurned the chances to pull their team back into the game.
Palace capitalized on the same to seal the points in the 74th minute when, against the run of play, Zaha carried the ball into the opposition box and was tripped by Odegaard, thus awarding the Eagles a spot-kick. Zaha made no mistake from the spot and put Palace 3-0 up on the night.
The Gunners’ latest loss left them fifth in the table, level on points with rivals Spurs with a game in hand, but behind on goal difference.
