Arsenal responded from their opening day defeat against West Ham United in the best way possible, by taking all three points at Crystal Palace, with a 2-1 victory. Goals from Olivier Giroud and a Damien Delaney own goal earned the Gunners their first win of the season.
Despite dominating for large parts of the game, Arsenal couldn’t quite put the game to bed, and paid the price when Joel Ward equalised for the home side. However, quality eventually prevailed, and Arsenal walked away with a result they’ll be delighted with. A visit from Liverpool is up next for Arsene Wenger’s side, who will be looking to build on this win by beating a potential title rival.
Wenger spoke to the media following the victory, and he was full of praise for his Arsenal side, who showed different sides to their game throughout the 90 minutes at Selhurst Park: “We have shown our strong response and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League.
“We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond. We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well.
“I’m pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.”
Palace found themselves level at half-time through Ward’s equaliser, and Wenger was clearly frustrated at the manner in which Arsenal conceded the goal: “I haven’t seen the goal again but Koscielny had a very strong performance today.
“Maybe he has turned his back by reflex, I don’t know, but overall I was not happy with the goal.”
However, he acknowledged how tough it is to go to Palace and win, placing even more importance on Sunday’s result: “On the other hand it was a good test for us because this is a difficult place for everybody to come and to win.
“I’m sure they will beat many strong teams here and to get the three [points] is already a little bit of a turning point in the Premier League for us.
“To lose today would have been a big blow mentally.”
There were constant calls for Francis Coquelin to be sent off, although Wenger was adamant in his defence of his midfielder, believing he was rightly allowed to stay on the pitch: “I don’t believe so. He didn’t deserve a yellow card.
“The pressure was on to get him sent off. I had a hesitation at half-time but I felt that the pressure was already there.
“After the last foul I thought there was not much room for a decision.”
When asked if he thought Coquelin should have been sent off, Wenger continued to defend him, and answered: “No. He put his hands on his head because he thought it was not a free-kick, not because he thought he would be sent off.”
Coquelin eventually left the pitch in the second half, but as a substitute for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and the Arsenal boss felt he was left with no choice: “Every time he intervened, the crowd were behind it and put the pressure on the referee.
“I felt that it was 60 minutes played, I didn’t want to take him off but I didn’t have much room.”
Alexis Sanchez made his return to the starting line-up after an extended summer break due to his victory with Chile at the Copa America, and he immediately made a difference to the Arsenal side. Wenger had nothing but positives to say about the Gunners’ Player of the Year last season: “He brings a drive forward. He brings the pressure on the opponent. He brings goal chances.
“When it was 1-1 it is no coincidence that he found the header over Ward [and] maybe it’s a typical Alexis goal.
“More desire than fitness, he is still a bit short fitness-wise but he is a fighter.”
In recent weeks, a number of strikers have been linked with a move to Arsenal. Wenger has also had the consistently tough decision on who plays as the starting striker between Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, and he opted for Giroud at Selhurst Park. The Frenchman repaid the faith his manager showed in him by bagging the opening goal on Sunday, and Wenger said: “Giroud scored the goal and he was important because he had to kick a lot of long balls.
“I think he had a much stronger performance than recently.”
One player that stood out on Sunday was Mesut Ozil, who also bagged himself another assist. Wenger was evidently impressed with the German’s performance, and commented on what he wants to see Ozil do more of this season: “He had a very good performance. He was important getting out from the back, getting out of tight areas.
“It is a pleasure to watch the quality of his passing and the intelligence of his passing.
“What I told you is what I want from him more is a few more goals this season. For the rest of the build-up in the game he was magnificent.”
Ozil has come under a fair amount of criticism in his two years at the Emirates, however Wenger has always defended his record signing, who has entered his third campaign with the club. He did plenty of positive things against Palace, and the Gunners boss made sure everybody knew: “He works harder than people thinks he does. He is not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job, he wants to help the team.
“What I liked in his game today was he made many runs without the ball behind the defenders, which is a bit new as he likes to come with the ball. Today he mixed up his game better.”
Santi Cazorla took a deeper role in the Arsenal midfield last season, and has continued his impressive form. Wenger has been known to play central players wider, however believes Cazorla has found his perfect position for the job he does: “Cazorla in important the start of the game when the ball comes from our defenders, because he can pass from deep midfield to high midfield better than everybody and get out of pressure.
“That’s why I positioned him more central. He is not any more a player on the flanks who can overlap and cross the ball.”
