Arsenal 0-0 Crystal Palace: 5 talking points as Gunners’ winning run comes to an end with a dour draw
Arsenal’s four-match winning run across competitions came to an underwhelming end as they played out a dull 0-0 draw against London rivals Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
Having needed 30 minutes of extra time to get past Newcastle United in the third round of the FA Cup at the weekend, the Gunners’ attack lacked imagination against the Eagles as well.
Palace were arguably unlucky not to come away from this encounter with all three points.
James Tomkins hit the bar with a header and Bernd Leno was forced to dive full-length to claw out a goal-bound header from Christian Benteke in the first half. The visitors ended the half on a high after a promising start from the hosts.
The second half went much the same way as the first, with Arsenal marginally upping their game in the opening exchanges only for Palace to come back into the game and regularly threaten the Arsenal goal.
Eventually, Mikel Arteta’s men managed to secure their first clean sheet at home in the league this season, maintaining the 11th position in the league table while their opponents also stayed put at 13th in the standings.
Here are the five major talking points from Arsenal’s drab 0-0 draw at home against Crystal Palace.
#1 Arsenal are crying out for a world-class creative midfielder
Despite their recent upturn in form, it has been fairly evident for some time that the Arsenal attack has been affected by a distinct lack of creativity.
With proven goalscorers like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette in the side, the absence of an influential playmaker in the number 10 role has adversely affected the Gunners’ chance creation. And, as a result, the number of goals they have been scoring.
With Mesut Ozil frozen out of the squad and seemingly on his way out of the club, the onus has fallen on the young shoulders of Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka to provide the missing creative spark. Summer signing Willian has so far failed to impress in the number 10 role.
Even though the youngsters have exceeded expectations with excellent attacking displays of late, Arsenal’s struggles against the well-organised Palace defence highlighted their need for a proven attacking midfielder.
As such, the Gunners can be expected to be in the market for such a player soon. If not in the current transfer window than at least when the summer transfer window comes around.
#2 Crystal Palace struggling for consistency
Positive results and disappointing defeats in equal measure in the ongoing season have left Crystal Palace hovering around the middle of the league table.
Predicting the outcome of a match involving the Eagles, who currently lie 13th in the standings, has been a tough task. There is no telling what kind of performance they might put in on the day.
This inconsistency is illustrated clearly in their recent run of fixtures. The draw against Arsenal was preceded by a defeat in the FA Cup third round. In the Premier League, a 7-0 drubbing against Liverpool and a 3-0 loss against 10-man Aston Villa were followed by a win and a draw.
The Palace squad is a decent mixture of youth and experience. But it appears that Roy Hodgson is still trying to figure out his best eleven and a suitable formation. He has experimented in both departments during the course of the season.