Ten-man Arsenal preserve EPL lead
Arteta, Giroud give Gunners 2-0 away win against Crystal Palace.
Arsenal edged Crystal Palace 2-0 at Selhurst Park yesterday to maintain a two-point lead at the Premier League summit. PHOTO: AFP
LONDON:
Arsenal survived a scare to beat Crystal Palace 2-0 yesterday, with a Mikel Arteta penalty and an Olivier Giroud header maintaining their lead in the English Premier League.
Yet Arsene Wenger will know it could easily have been different after Arteta was sent off with 25 minutes still remaining at Selhurst Park against managerless Palace.
Wojciech Szczesny produced two brilliant saves to deny the hosts an equaliser in a spirited display just days after manager Ian Holloway left Palace.
However, it was Arsenal who made it seven wins from their last eight Premier League matches to leave Palace in deep trouble in the relegation zone.
Having worked so hard in the first-half to contain Arsenal, all of Palace’s efforts were washed away inside the opening 60 seconds after the break.
Adlene Guedioura’s rash decision to slide in on Serge Gnabry inside the box handed Arteta an opportunity from the spot and he made no mistake to put Arsenal ahead.
Later, Palace were handed a lifeline after referee Chris Foy showed Arteta a red card for bringing down Marouane Chamakh. However they failed to capitalise, but Arsenal made sure of victory late on when Olivier Giroud headed home from Aaron Ramsey’s cross.
Meanwhile in today’s fixtures, Manchester City will have a showdown with Chelsea while Tottenham will take on Hull.
Other matches of the day include Sunderland facing Newcastle while Swansea will play West Ham.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2013.
Arsenal survived a scare to beat Crystal Palace 2-0 yesterday, with a Mikel Arteta penalty and an Olivier Giroud header maintaining their lead in the English Premier League.
Yet Arsene Wenger will know it could easily have been different after Arteta was sent off with 25 minutes still remaining at Selhurst Park against managerless Palace.
Wojciech Szczesny produced two brilliant saves to deny the hosts an equaliser in a spirited display just days after manager Ian Holloway left Palace.
However, it was Arsenal who made it seven wins from their last eight Premier League matches to leave Palace in deep trouble in the relegation zone.
Having worked so hard in the first-half to contain Arsenal, all of Palace’s efforts were washed away inside the opening 60 seconds after the break.
Adlene Guedioura’s rash decision to slide in on Serge Gnabry inside the box handed Arteta an opportunity from the spot and he made no mistake to put Arsenal ahead.
Later, Palace were handed a lifeline after referee Chris Foy showed Arteta a red card for bringing down Marouane Chamakh. However they failed to capitalise, but Arsenal made sure of victory late on when Olivier Giroud headed home from Aaron Ramsey’s cross.
Meanwhile in today’s fixtures, Manchester City will have a showdown with Chelsea while Tottenham will take on Hull.
Other matches of the day include Sunderland facing Newcastle while Swansea will play West Ham.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2013.