Arsenal Mark Arsene Wenger's Landmark 810th Game With A 3-2 Win At Crystal Palace

This was a landmark game for Arsene Wenger, his 810th in all, and it embodied much of the Arsenal that we remember from the recent Premier League era. Spellbinding football was combined with a profligacy that kept their opponents competitive for a good part of this game but the Gunners left their London rivals with the points and grateful to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, not for the first time this season.

Crystal Palace got the game underway but the first five minutes were all Arsenal, with a neat one-two between Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil promising to give the Gunners an opening lead before it was cut out. From the ensuing counter attack we saw that rest of sights; a headed one-two between Petr Cech and Granit Xhaka had one of the game’s first proper shots, giving Speroni plenty to think about before his shot went just over the crossbar.

Palace would respond in kind, with Cabaye’s show beating Cech but also going wide of the post to leave the scores still 0-0. A double block from Wilshere, trying to put away Bellerin’s wonderful first-time ball, and Sanchez, hoping to make something of the rebound, soon followed.

The visitors had a vice-like grip on proceedings and Kolasinac, Wilshere, Ozil and Sanchez’s combination down the left hand side created a fine chance for Xhaka in the box before he found his effort blocked. The goal appeared to be coming however, and it duly arrived before the 25th minute, with Shkodran Mustafi making the most of Julian Speroni parring the ball into his hands after an excellent cross-cum-shot from Alexandre Lacazette with a cool finish.

It was so nearly two when Sanchez found Ozil in the box, but Speroni’s point-blank save kept the Gunners lead at just one. They were finding a great deal of joy down the flanks now with neat interchanges and if it had not been thanks to a series of fantastic blocks there was a feeling that this game could well be over before half time.

Zaha reminded the visitors of his danger with a close shot to break up the domination of the visitors but he was one chance amongst a sea of black shirts and Alexandre Lacazette would be the next to go close for the visitors.

A Palace corner was like a unicorn in such a game so when Cabaye’s effort went over the head of Beneteke there were groans from the onlooking crowd who hadn’t had much to make a fuss about. That was half time but the second half started much like the first, with a mass of black shirts trying to find the final ball before Sanchez made an expert pass to find Bellerin.

He was denied by Speroni, and it was typical that after all that domination, Palace would level and that it would be a Spurs player who would do so, Andros Townsend taking advantage of Wilfried Zaha’s brilliance when he managed to beat Chambers in a one on one duel right infront of the ultras for the home side.

Arsenal were a tad rattled and Bellerin’s heavy touch meant that Schlupp could pounce and then find Zaha in what was a period of pressure for the home side.

It did not last all that long, however, with Arsenal soon managing to gain the lion’s share of possession, and when a cross from Bellerin was not properly cleared there was always going to be danger and he smashed the ball into the far corner from Lacazette’s layoff to give the Gunners the lead.

That was the least they deserved but one could argue that the score line truly reflected the game when Alexis Sanchez was found brilliantly by Jack Wilshere with a quarterback pass that any midfielder would have been proud of, and the control and the finish from the Chilean, capping a brilliant showing, was always going to prove too good.

The hosts did not threaten until a poor head from Bellerin saw Jeffrey Schlupp pull in a good ball that was just sent wide by Zaha for a corner, and from the subsequent corner, there was a terrific header by Joel Tompkins to give some suspense to the last few minutes of this encounter. Arsenal managed to keep hold of the ball for most of those minutes however, and would ride out a deserved victory.