Finishing warm-up
As is custom before every match, Palace’s forwards were put through their paces close to the Selhurst Park tunnel in a finishing drill against Vicente Guaita and Jack Butland.
Wilfried Zaha, Conor Gallagher, Jeffrey Schlupp, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew all combined in various ways before one of them took a shot at goal, with Ayew in particular standing out as he found the bottom corner with remarkable consistency. By comparison, Zaha and Mateta sent a pair of their efforts into the Homesdale Road End while Gallagher and Schlupp only managed to find the back of the net once each.
It was a sign of things to come for Ayew, who looked lively from the very first minute and combined several times with Gallagher on the right side inside the first 20 minutes. When his chance came to test Ramsdale shortly after he did exactly what he had done in the warm-up and curled a left-footed shot perfectly into the corner of the goal to double Palace’s advantage.
READ MORE: Crystal Palace press conference LIVE: Patrick Vieira on Arsenal victory, Arteta and more
Making them wait
Palace’s game management was crucial in their goalless draw against Manchester City last time out in the league and one specific tactic was repeated by the Eagles at half-time.
Just as they did against City in March, Palace were late out of the dressing rooms for half-time and left their counterparts dwindling on the Selhurst Park turf for five minutes before eventually emerging from the tunnel. Against City, they went on to hold onto their clean sheet and see out the game 0-0, while against the Gunners they scored the third goal to seal the victory and ensure another shutout at the back.
It’s not clear whether this is a deliberate ploy by Vieira and his coaching staff, but in their last few home matches, it has worked perfectly, giving them a little extra time from which to put pressure on their opponents and ramp up the atmosphere within a bouncing Selhurst Park.
Andersen’s Lacazette revenge
When Alexandre Lacazette scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser against Palace at the Emirates in November, many Eagles fans questioned Joachim Andersen’s role in the goal as the defender charged out of his own box and left space behind him for Lacazette to score.
Thankfully for the Dane, his rematch with Lacazette couldn’t have gone much better. He got things started with a somewhat fortunate assist for Mateta’s opener before his reverse diagonal ball up to Jordan Ayew handed him his second assist of the half. All this time he had not allowed Lacazette much of a sniff on goal before right before the half-time whistle the Frenchman lashed out at Andersen in frustration after the Dane had stopped his man from progressing with the ball on the wing.
Andersen finished the 90 minutes six clearances, two tackles and 12 long balls - leaving him with a match-high rating of 8.2 (SofaScore).
Mateta’s finishing ability
Growing in confidence with every match he plays, Jean-Philippe Mateta might just be the best finisher at Crystal Palace right now.
He instinctively nodded home the opening goal of the game with little time to react to the ball coming straight to him, while he tested Aaron Ramsdale not long after with a powerful, driven first-time effort that looked a difficult shot to get on target let alone test the keeper. His goal against the Gunners was the sixth of his season so far after barely featuring in the first half of the campaign.
He was brought off the pitch to a rousing reception and rightly rested with big games coming up that Vieira will need him for. There is every chance that Mateta’s strong finish to the season will see him be the club’s most impressive striker of the season - a possibility that seemed incredibly unlikely back in August.
Kouyate issue
As one of the best enforcers in the team, there would have been some worry from Vieira and the coaching staff when the physical midfielder was seen limping off the pitch during the second half and back down the tunnel.
The recently-crowned AFCON winner had a stellar game, keeping Arsenal’s attacking threat quiet but couldn’t complete the 90 minutes after being hauled off for Luka Milivojevic with ten minutes remaining. With Palace having some big games coming up - especially the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea in a fortnight - many will be hoping Kouyate’s injury is only a slight knock.
Thankfully, Palace saw the return of James McArthur to match action which would soften any potential injury to Kouyate. McArthur has been sorely missed in midfield but arrives back into the squad at the perfect time with the business end of the season coming up.
