Arsenal were booed off the pitch as they could not take advantage of Leicester’s draw against West Ham earlier. The Gunners dominated Crystal Palace and even took the lead thanks to Alexis Sanchez.
The Gunners finished the game with 72% possession and 21 shots on goal but Crystal Palace got the all-important equaliser thanks to Yannick Bolasie who beat Petr Cech at his near-post. Palace seemed to be the team that might have won the game at the end as they went for the jugular but Arsenal held on.
With Leicester 13 points clear at the top and Arsenal now fourth, there is fear that the London side might not even make it to the Champions League with Manchester United breathing down their necks.
Arsenal didn’t have the greatest game at the Emirates and we rate the performance of each Gunner.
Petr Cech – 6/10
The goalkeeper didn’t have much to do but he did let Yannick Bolasie’s shot in rather easily. This might not have cost Arsenal the points because they did not attack enough but Cech should have done better.
Hector Bellerin – 7/10
The Spaniard was good in defence but didn’t really do much in attack. That was the only downside of his game today.
Gabriel – 6/10
A poor outing from the Brazilian, he could not deal with the Palace attack but he did have a good block late on to deny Zaha.
Laurent Koscielny – 6/10
A decent performance from the French defender, he did have one or two slipups but nothing too big.
Nacho Monreal – 6/10
A player who didn’t really do much in attack, Bolasie did have a go at him but the Spaniard held him off most of the time.
Mohamed Elneny – 5/10
The Egyptian worked out well in midfield though he didn’t really shine as much as he has done in previous games.
Francis Coquelin – 5/10
Not the greatest game for the French midfielder as he was partly to blame as Bolasie got his shot off but had an alright game for the rest of the 90.
Alexis Sanchez – 7/10
Alexis Sanchez got the goal for Arsenal and should have had a more but was the best player for the Gunners.
Mesut Ozil – 7/10
Ozil had a few great moments of link-up play with the attack but really should have done more in the game for the Gunners.
Alex Iwobi – 5/10
Alex Iwobi finally had an average game but you cannot expect him to star all the time.
Danny Welbeck – 5/10
The English striker ran about on the pitch, making it tough for the Palace defenders but didn’t really do much in the game to trouble the goalkeeper.
Substitutes:
Olivier Giroud – NA
The French attacker didn’t really do much in the game.
Aaron Ramsey – 6/10
Ramsey did come off the bench and provided a bit of oomph to the midfield but that was about it.
Theo Walcott – NA
Walcott was also ineffective at the Emirates.