Emery loses control as Palace halt winning run
With tensions running high on a frenzied afternoon, Unai Emery planted his hands on either side of Alexandre Lacazette’s face and stared deep into his eyes. Screaming encouragement, the Arsenal head coach then slapped his striker on the cheek before pushing him back into the storm that was threatening to engulf his side.
It was a moment that encapsulated both the tension of a fevered second half and the intensity of the relentless Emery, the head coach who had become so caught up in the emotion of it all.
Emery’s wide-eyed passion was the result of his side’s lack of control on the pitch, where Arsenal’s 11-game winning run was ended by two fine penalties from Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic.
The visitors had responded well to yet another slow start, and had scored twice in five minutes to take the lead, but they eventually buckled under Palace’s pressure.
By the end, it was the home side who looked the more likely to take all three points. They have every right to feel aggrieved after this, not least because Arsenal’s second goal was scored after Lacazette had pushed the ball with a hand into Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s path.
“Most people would feel sympathy for us,” Palace manager Roy Hodgson said. “It was not exactly a touch of the hand, but one which helped the ball to the player who scored. It’s tremendous that the players came back from that.”
As ever, it was Wilfried Zaha who led the Palace charge, driving the team onwards and winning the second penalty as the game entered its closing stages. Palace had struck a post before then, for the second time in the game, and had rattled Arsenal in a way few other teams have managed this season.
Emery said: “We scored two goals from two individual actions, and then there were a lot of minutes to hold this result. In this moment, we needed control because we lost possession. We needed to score the third goal to be calm.”
Palace deserved their lead when it arrived at the end of the first half. A corner caused chaos and Shkodran Mustafi senselessly lunged through the back of Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate. Milivojevic made up for last week’s penalty miss against Everton by sending the ball into the bottom corner.
It was Palace’s first goal at home this season, but it took Arsenal just six minutes of second-half football to respond in style.
Granit Xhaka unleashed one of the finest free-kicks we will see this season. Such was the ferocity of the midfielder’s rising strike, which cannoned off a post before nestling in the top corner, that it was a surprise there were no scorch-marks on the woodwork.
The controversial second came five minutes later, when Lacazette punched the ball into the feet of Aubameyang, whose prodded effort then crossed the line by a margin so small it could barely be seen even by the goal-line technology.
Emery removed the ineffective Mesut Ozil, who hurled his gloves off in disgust. “It’s normal,” said Emery. “I like players showing us character.” It was soon Emery’s turn to be disgusted, though.
Lacazette played an inexplicable cross that allowed the home side to counter. Zaha charged at Xhaka in the box. Xhaka lunged, Zaha went down, and Milivojevic had his second penalty goal. “A clear penalty,” Xhaka said. “I touched his knee.” It was the least Palace deserved.
“We can do mistakes on the pitch,” said Emery. “Every day, I am making mistakes also. We had the ball in the opposition box and we did one bad pass.”