Wenger crisis as Palace expose gutless Arsenal
CHIEF FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT at Selhurst Park
Att: 25,648 Arsenal’s hopes of finishing in the top four are in grave danger; almost extinct. Crystal Palace are fighting for their lives and are close to survival. This was a devastating defeat for Arsène Wenger – what now for his future? His feeble side have now lost five of their last eight Premier League games and are spiralling out of control, leaderless, spiritless and still seven points off the Champions League places. It is heading one painful way at present.
For Palace a fifth win in six matches, adding Arsenal’s scalp to Chelsea’s, said it all and they thoroughly deserved this victory which took them six points clear of the threat of relegation – even if it will be overshadowed, somewhat, by another Arsenal inquest.
Except what more can be said? There was one twist, however, with Arsenal’s vocal away support turning. “You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” they angrily chanted, and they appeared completely despondent, stunned. Palace fans goaded Wenger with a chorus of “We want you to stay”. It has come to this for Wenger.
He had never lost to Palace in the Premier League. But he has now and emphatically so. Much to Sam Allardyce’s obvious delight this was his first win over Wenger in seven years. The Palace manager preyed on Arsenal’s vulnerabilities, defensive flakiness and lack of belief. But then neither has Wenger finished outside the top four and it is hard to see that record continuing either.
Arsenal are also now 14 points behind second-placed Tottenham and Wenger will, for the first time, finish behind their north London rivals and by a distance. That will become a mathematical certainly very soon while there was another statistic that will hurt – this was a fourth successive away defeat. Each time they have shipped three goals. They look, they are, soft.
Afterwards their former striker Ian Wright took to Twitter and it will have pained him to type that the dressing room has been lost but so meagre was the fight that few can argue with his brutal conclusion while Wenger – again – looked a broken man.
Arsenal had turned up late, traffic problems again in this part of south London, and never caught up. Not one of their players performed and at the final whistle there was the usual sight of Alexis Sánchez trudging slowly off while Mesut Özil sat on the turf in disbelief. As well he might. Hopefully he was wondering about his own pitiful contribution.
It again hit home that Wenger’s teams are underprepared, undercoached and tactically lacking. Allardyce’s approach was understandably simple: hit the ball early up to Christian Benteke and intimidate and overpower with the outstanding Crucial: Yohan Cabaye (second left) is congratulated after scoring for Palace Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend swarming around the big striker. They were not alone. Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic were impressive while the powerhouse that is Mamadou Sakho bullied the Arsenal attack and scared their defence. Sakho was everything they were not with Shkodran Mustafi producing a pitiful performance as Arsenal’s defensive leader who could not lead.
It was encapsulated in each of Palace’s three goals but none more so than the first with Benteke predictably proving too strong for Gabriel as they competed for a long ball forward and it dropped to Townsend, who quickly combined with Cabaye. Zaha smartly pulled wide right and, as he slipped, his low cross was met by Townsend, who gleefully side-footed past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
Half-chances fell to Sánchez but it was slim pickings for Arsenal. Palace’s resolve was summed up when Sakho cut out an Özil cross and then blocked Sánchez’s immediate follow-up.
Palace knew they needed a second and after the interval they pushed on, trying to kill off this encounter and smash what was left of Arsenal’s resolve. That came when they seized on an error, with Townsend finding Zaha again out wide. Again he slipped – he appears to have mastered the cross-as-hefalls routine – and cut the ball back to Cabaye, who lofted a superb firsttime shot that left Martínez helpless as it arced over him and into the net.
Arsenal had fallen apart by the time Townsend broke through on goal, and when Martínez sprinted from his line and threw himself at the winger’s feet the Palace player hung out a leg and made contact before tumbling gratefully to the floor. The penalty award was made and Milivojevic drove the ball past Martínez.
There was nothing from Arsenal. Substitute Olivier Giroud seemed more concerned about complaining to the referee while his shellshocked team-mates were going through the motions as they headed, sleepwalking, towards another defeat; another roll-call of recrimination; another familiar inquest.
Amid all this their manager stands, Canute-like, trying to turn this tidal wave that is engulfing him and the club. He wants to stay, he is still expected to stay even though the reality is that it is time for a change. Arsenal’s decline under Wenger sadly appears terminal even if he cannot accept it.