Sanchez goal spat reveals tensions in Arsenal camp
The occasion of Arsene Wenger’s 810th Premier League match in charge of Arsenal – drawing him level with Sir Alex Ferguson’s extraordinary record – was a cause for celebration. Except there was a debate afterwards as to whether Alexis Sanchez’s team-mates wanted to celebrate with him after he scored the crucial second goal which restored their lead on the way to this win at Crystal Palace.
Television pundits Graeme Sou- ness and, more relevantly to Arsenal, their former striker Thierry Henry, questioned whether this showed a “division” within the squad, with Sanchez, in the final few months of his contract, with the January transfer opening, with a move to Manchester City still his determined wish, appearing isolated. He looked a little bewildered, pointing at himself. “He is asking them to come. ‘ Why are you not coming? Don’t you want to celebrate?’” Henry said.
Maybe they are reading too much into that. Maybe not. But it was true that Sanchez – who went on to add Arsenal’s third goal – was not exactly mobbed, while Wenger himself was reduced to irritably batting away questions about the commitment of players whose deals are expiring.
Sanchez’s name was not chanted by the travelling Arsenal supporters – though that of Mesut Ozil, also out of contract soon, was – while another whose deal is almost up, Jack Wilshere, was their darling, after delivering an impressive performance in his fourth league game in a row.
But, overall, this was also a bit of an ‘Arsenal-y’ performance as they should have put the game to bed. Indeed, they secured a two-goal lead that was the least they deserved, and then almost tossed it away as Palace rallied late on and, driven on by Wilfried Zaha, arguably had enough opportunities to claim an improbable draw.
In a way it summed up Wenger’s 21 years at Arsenal. The result lifts his side level on points with fifth- placed Tottenham Hotspur, but anything short of a win would have sent them into another tailspin.
It was here last April that Palace beat Arsenal 3-0 with the away fans chanting “you’re not fit to where the shirt” and their sequence of qualifying for the Champions League in jeopardy as it then subsequently came to an end.
So there seemed an intent from Arsenal to put that result right, and it was emphatically pressed home when they took the lead, with Alexandre Lacazette creating the space down the right to check back and curl a shot that goalkeeper Julian Speroni must have felt he had dealt with well enough as he pushed it wide. Unfortunately for him it fell to Shkodran Mustafi but, even so, the defender finished superbly to squeeze an angled shot into the net.
Zaha became angry. His sense of injustice led to a booking as he protested to referee Michael Oliver at half-time and he had to be dragged away by captain Scott Dann.
However, after the restart, he channelled that anger, shifting his feet as he ran onto Jeffrey Schlupp’s pass, beating Calum Chambers down the left and pulling the ball back brilliantly to Andros Townsend – anonymous up until that point – who from 15 yards powered a first-time left-foot shot past Petr Cech. It was a great finish.