Following today’s clash between Arsenal and Crystal Palace, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Arsenal hosted Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday January 20, with the hosts taking a four one victory.
Arsenal opened the scoring through Nacho Monreal who then went on to provide assists for Alex Iwobi and Laurent Koscielny. Arsene Wenger’s side tied the game up as Alexandre Lacazette made it four in the 22nd minute of the first half.
With Arsenal bringing an end to their run of three games without a win, Palace will take heart from their response in the second period especially but they slip to 13th in the table.
Teams:
Arsenal:
Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal (Maitland-Niles 34), Wilshere, El Neny, Xhaka, Ozil (Nelson 72), Lacazette, Iwobi (Kolasinac 82).
Substitutes:
Mertesacker, Ospina, Chambers, Nketiah.
Crystal Palace.
Hennessey, Fosu-Mensah, Kelly, Tomkins, van Aanholt, McArthur, Cabaye (Riedewald 90), Milivojevic, Zaha, Sako, Benteke.
Substitutes:
Speroni, Ward, Townsend, Lee Chung-yong, Souare, Delaney.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Chris Kavanagh blew the final whistle, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explained.
‘We played our real game in the first half, real pace and real combination. In the second half the challenge was to keep the same drive and we didn’t manage to do that. The speed of our game at the start was good. We are the only team to beat Palace in their last 12 games. Not scoring had played on Lacazette’s mind, it was starting to get heavy for him so that is a relief. We know the challenge in front of us is very difficult, exciting as well. For 45 minutes our fans have seen some great football.’
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson in his comparative interview explained.
‘Three goals in 13 minutes put us on the back foot, it was a poor first half. Second half we at least played like the team we try to be. We took a heavy beating but at least it didn’t get any worse. It could have become an avalanche of goals. It was easy street for Arsenal but we made it hard for them in the second half. We lost our marking twice on Nacho Monreal and he punished us, I don’t think it’s a malaise in the club or the way we play but Arsenal found a weakness today. They were every bit as good as they can be today. They scored a really good ‘Arsenal goal’ as well.’
