Gunners back in goalscoring mode as Palace offer little resistance

 

Arsenal 5 Crystal Palace 0    
Premier League   
Saturday 20th January 2024  12.30pm    

After dropping eleven points from their previous five matches, Arsenal simply needed to take three points after their mid-winter break and Crystal Palace at home proved the perfect game to get things back on track. The form of Roy Hodgson’s team had been even worse than their hosts, so an element of confidence was justified.

 

Arsenal had not played badly in the two of the three league defeats recently (Fulham the exception), but putting the ball in the net had become a problem area. They worked on their set pieces whilst away on their training camp in Dubai and it paid off handsomely. Their corners all proved dangerous and both first half goals came from two of the four they were awarded. It was good to see Declan Rice take a decent corner for the opener, as with Trossard starting in place of Martinelli, we’ve seen a lot of very poor corners from the Belgian. Gabriel met it wonderfully with all kinds of movement and shenanigans making defending difficult for the Palace players.

 

The second goal was initially awarded to Gabriel, but later changed to an own goal. This corner came from a Saka corner on the other side, and at two up, it felt like the game was safe already, with Palace lacking intensity and offering a limited amount of goal threat. Roy Hodgson has been around a long time now, and had retired before returning to rescue Palace from relegation last season. Patrick Vieira was the manager before, and the run that saw him replaced is not dissimilar to the one the club are experiencing now. Hodgson is still in the job at the time of writing, but everyone is expecting an announcement soon enough. It's a sad way for a decent manager to bow out, but he really should have gone after his achievement at the end of last season. But football can be a bit of a bug for old timers, and the opportunity to get back on the training pitch is hard to resist.

 

It felt as if his players weren’t playing for him, a bit like Arsenal’s in the final weeks of the Unai Emery spell. Graham Potter’s presence in the directors’ box may have been a co-incidence but he’d be more likely to turn things around than the club sticking with Hodgson. 

 

It was a strange kind of game due to that lack of intensity. You can’t argue with a 5-0 win, but Arsenal didn’t need to play that well, and with the game safe, at times, it actually felt a bit dull to this observer. Maybe it was the cold, or the grey nature of a January day. They played better in the defeats at Villa and at home to West Ham… at least until they got in front of the goal. Palace were fairly resolute in defending their goal when the ball was in open play, but chasing the game in the second half, the danger of counter attacks was all too obvious.

 

David Raya had a minor slip up in his distribution in the opening 45 minutes, but aside from that, had a very good game. He was required to pull off a few saves, did well at corners and his distribution was what Mikel Arteta would have been looking for. 

 

Two of the three second half goals came in injury time, both courtesy of Martinelli, the one before finished by Trossard. On each occasion the scorers had acres of space to pick their spot as Palace’s offside trap left them high and dry.

 

There were runouts for Smith Rowe – who performed okay given his lack of match time, and Nketiah, whose assist for the fourth goal was his most noteworthy contribution. Declan Rice was removed for a hamstring strain – at least there is over a week until the next match, and it must be hoped he fully recovers. That Arsenal turned down West Ham’s offer of taking Smith Rowe on loan suggests Mikel Arteta might make more use of a player who is close to the hearts of the supporters. We’ll see what develops there, but if there were plans to sell the number 10 in the summer, you would have thought the greater amount of game time and exposure he’d have surely seen at West Ham would enhance his value. Smith Rowe is a talent that needs to play games to hit top form. Cameo appearances seem a waste of what he can offer. There is a view that Arteta does not rotate enough, and Smith Rowe could play the Xhaka position as well as that of a wide attacker. The remainder of the season will surely indicate whether he is simply being held onto as an insurance policy or with a view to the long term.

 

Arsenal moved to third in the table, and the odds are that this is as high as they will be come the end of the season. Yes, they are – on paper – right in contention for the title. But De Bruyne is back for Manchester City and Liverpool seem to have momentum. However, below the Gunners, Aston Villa seem the most likely threat, whilst the likes of Manchester United, Spurs, Newcastle and Chelsea appear too inconsistent. Cries for Arteta’s head after the bad league run and the cup defeat to Liverpool are simply the nature of over-emotive supporters. The manager achieved second place last season and is on course to qualify again for the Champions League. That is what the owners will consider continued success. Yes, we all want to win trophies, but the fact that Financial Fair Play is biting hard is a consequence of six seasons without Champions League income. This rebuild appeared ahead of schedule in 2022-23, but now it feels like it’s going to take a little longer for the club to be on a level with those currently above them. Let’s hope for a decent run in Europe and an end to the goal drought of recent weeks.

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