Arsenal 2-3 Crystal Palace: 3 reasons why the Gunners lost the game
Arsenal's top four hopes took a major beating against a spirited Crystal Palace side. Christian Benteke scored after almost a year and that tells a lot about Arsenal’s shaky defence rather than Benteke’s ability. Mesut Ozil did bring Arsenal back into the game but goals from Wilfried Zaha and James McArthur took the match further away from the Gunner's reach.
After watching Manchester United lose to Everton, Arsenal fans were hoping their team could build the pressure on other teams in the top 4 race by getting the job done against Palace, but it was not to be the case as complacency and some poor finishing let the supporters down.
The Gunners will now be hoping that Burnley would help them by beating Chelsea on Monday night.
Here are the three reasons why Unai Emery's men lost this crucial match.
#1 Poor finishing
The first half saw some tired legs from the Gunners as the team was still coping from the big encounter they won against Napoli. But in the second half, Mesut Ozil and his colleagues created a lot of scoring chances but the forwards failed to capitalize on the opportunities.
Unai Emery made seven changes and that probably explains the reason behind the lack of understanding in the team. Elneny was not creative enough and Iwobi was also not clinical to have a positive impact on the game. Ozil had a great game and all threats from Arsenal were initiated by the German.
Lacazette worked very hard in the first half but lacked a little composure in the tough areas. Aubameyang had a brilliant solo effort in the second half but that was his only contribution in the game. Without Ramsey, the forward line looked disjointed and there was literally no link-up play. Emery would want to rectify the issues as soon as possible as Arsenal also have two tough away games to look forward to.