Rohan Sengupta
Arsenal report: 10-man Gunners held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace
Jordan Ayew’s deflected shot earned Crystal Palace a point in the 1-1 draw with 10-man Arsenal at Selhurst Park on Saturday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored and was then sent off in a game of two halves in South London.
Arsenal dominated possession in the first 25 minutes and rightly led through Aubameyang. Alexandre Lacazette’s ball through the middle found Aubameyang, who took one touch and finished coolly for his 14th goal of the season.
The Gunners looked in control of the game, with the midfielders and forwards linking well. But while it was only 1-0, Crystal Palace were in the game. After half an hour, the home side finally began to push Arsenal back, but lacked quality in the final third to punish them.
Five minutes before the break, the Eagles should have been level. Cheikhou Kouyate side-stepped a challenge from Lucas Torreira in the box and curled a right-footed effort far too close to Bernd Leno, who saved it easily.
In the 54th minute, Jordan Ayew drew Palace level as the Ghanaian shot against David Luiz and watched the ball bounce over Leno after the Arsenal defence failed to clear Max Meyer’s cross.
Arsenal suffered another setback in the 66th minute when Aubameyang was sent off – following a VAR review – for his late challenge on Meyer. Aubameyang was originally given a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney, but VAR intervened and Mikel Arteta’s side were down to 10 men.
Despite the man disadvantage, the Gunners came closest to snatching three points when Nicolas Pepe rifled a shot against the post after a fingertip save from Vicente Guaita. However, despite their continued pressure, Roy Hodgson’s side could not find a winner and ultimately had to settle for a point.
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After a hard-earned point at Selhurst Park, here’s how some Arsenal fans reacted on Twitter.
— Michael Doyle (@_mdoyle10) January 11, 2020
Delete
— Nicolab Gooner (@GoonerNicolab) January 11, 2020
Sell Pepe
— cwtkw (@cwtkw) January 11, 2020
another draw, what is the point?
— Sameer (@afcnine) January 11, 2020
Get Mikel Arteta new players please.
— Karabo_afc🇿🇦 (@_kaysway_) January 11, 2020
still undefeated in 2020
— ❂ (@blackironsky) January 11, 2020
I’m proud of the resilience ❤️ we move
— Varun (@varuntheflash) January 11, 2020
Lacazette should be sold to get us another DM and CB
— Jefferson (@Je5erson) January 11, 2020
Positives to take. COYG!
— Daniel (@DanielBarratt23) January 11, 2020
