ZIPPY ZAHA MAKES EMERY PAY
Palace winger runs riot as Mustafi has stinker for understrength Gunners
When Christian Benteke scored, Roy hodgson should have guessed his luck was in. The Crystal Palace striker had not found the net in 358 days prior to this clash at Arsenal.
Fast-forward 90 minutes and Benteke’s goal drought was over, Palace were sure of safety and Arsenal’s hopes of Champions League qualification were in the balance. It was the Gunners’ first home loss in the league since their opening-day defeat to Manchester City.
Palace had to ride their luck at times but hodgson’s men were well worth their three points and as a result, they can start planning for next season knowing they will be a Premier League outfit.
Unai emery, though, will be counting the cost of missing a golden opportunity to take a firm grip on a top-four place.
The Arsenal manager made seven changes to the team that conjured one of the best results in his reign in the europa League at napoli on Thursday. In retrospect, the decision was misjudged. But what is more concerning for emery is the prospect of dropping out of the top four if Chelsea beat Burnley tonight.
‘We changed because we played a lot of matches, we have to protect some players,’ emery explained.
his thought process was understandable. The win in naples was taxing and alterations, in emery’s mind, were necessary. But so are points in the top-four race and they squandered three here.
On 39 points going into this game, only a capitulation of epic proportions would have prevented hodgson’s side from playing top-flight football next season. They do not need to worry now.
Palace were excellent. Compact out of possession, expansive and dangerous with the ball. As you would expect, Wilfried Zaha, fresh from telling Sportsmail last week he wants to leave Selhurst Park, led the charge.
hodgson tried his utmost to quell Zaha’s growing agitation, saying: ‘he is happy at Crystal Palace. he is on a four-year contract, he is one of our highest-paid players and he is adored by everyone. I am looking forward to working with him for many years to come. But life throws up things and we’ll see what happens.’
Max Meyer and Martin Kelly had already missed chances before Benteke notched his first goal since April 28, 2018 to give the visitors a 17th-minute lead, thumping home a header from Luka Milivojevic’s free-kick after some terrible Shkodran Mustafi marking.
The goal represented a significant weight off the Belgian’s shoulders.
‘he is more than just a goalscorer, his all-round performance was fantastic,’ said hodgson. ‘If he’d have played that well and someone else had scored the goal I wouldn’t have said that we should berate him for not scoring.’
Arsenal were poor, yet they were denied a strong penalty call late in the first half when Aaron Wan-Bissaka appeared to handle Sead Kolasinac’s attempted cross. Gunners players were incensed, replays suggested they had a point.
Jeers echoed around the emirates at half-time, obviously emery felt the same as he made a double substitution at the break, Ainsley Maitland-niles and Alex Iwobi coming on for Carl Jenkinson and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
For a short while the changes worked, Arsenal back level within two minutes of the restart — Mesut Ozil finishing smartly past Vicente Guaita.
It remains to be seen if Ozil is doing enough to win back emery’s trust ahead of next season. The future of his countryman Mustafi, however, appears far more clear-cut following another embarrassing error that led to Palace retaking the lead in the 61st minute.
The German, inexplicably, stopped as he looked to deal with Benteke’s flick, expecting Bernd Leno to do his dirty work for him.
Zaha did not need a second invitation, stealing in front of Mustafi before firing home. Mustafi turned to see who he could blame but he was clearly the one at fault. And in the 69th minute, Palace extended their lead with James McArthur’s close-range header from another Milivojevic set-piece.
P i e r r e - emerick Aubameyang slotted home to make it 3-2 in the 77th minute but Palace resisted a late onslaught to record a famous win. ARSENAL (3-4-1-2): Leno 6; Mustafi 3, Koscielny 5, Mavropanos 4 (Iwobi 46min, 6.5); Jenkinson 5 (Maitland-Niles 46, 6.5), Guendouzi 6, Elneny 6.5 (Torreira 68, 6), Kolasinac 6.5; Ozil 7; Aubameyang 7, Lacazette 6.5. Subs not used: Cech, Mkhitaryan, Monreal, Nketiah. Scorers: Ozil 47, Aubameyang 77. Booked: Mustafi, Mavropanos, Guendouzi, Ozil. Manager: Unai Emery 6. CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Guaita 7; Wan-Bissaka 7, Kelly 7, Dann 7.5, Ward 6.5; McArthur 7.5, Kouyate 7.5, Milivojevic 8, Meyer 7 (Townsend 80); ZAHA 8.5, Benteke 7.5 (Ayew 78). Subs not used: Hennessey, Van Aanholt, Batshuayi, Sako, Riedewald. Scorers: Benteke 17, Zaha 61, McArthur 69. Booked: Ward. Manager: Roy Hodgson 8. Referee: Jon Moss 6. Attendance: 59,929.