Former Manchester United defender and pundit Gary Neville mocked Arsenal fans shortly after the side slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. It was a night to forget on their return from the international break, putting a dent in hopes of a top-four finish this season.
Mikel Arteta’s men started sluggishly, failing to match the speed and intensity of the game set by Patrick Vieira and his side early on. They quickly opened the scoring, Jean-Philippe Mateta powering home a header from a set-piece to give the home side the lead.
That margin was soon doubled as Gabriel and Nuno Tavares made errors at the back to allow Jordan Ayew through, who needed no second invitation to find the back of the net. While the Gunners improved slightly in the second half, they were open to counter-attacks and Wilfried Zaha burst down the pitch and won a penalty.
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The Ivory Coast international slotted it past Aaron Ramsdale with ease to secure all three points. The result leaves Arteta and his side in fifth, level on points with Tottenham in fourth, but with a tough run of games to come.
Discussing the match afterwards, the Spaniard said his side weren’t “at the races”. “Congratulations first of all to Crystal Palace for winning the match and the way they performed, but we weren’t at the races today especially in the first half. We were late to every ball, we were soft in the duels and we didn’t earn the right to play," he said.
“When we did a little bit we were sloppy on the ball and we didn’t have any dominance, any sequences of play where we could take some control of the game and we conceded two poor goals. Overall it’s unacceptable, we put our hands up, apologise, regroup. Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to prepare the group against Brighton.”
There’s still a long way to go before the end of the season, with plenty of football left to be played. However, that didn’t stop some relishing Arsenal’s defeat, including ex-Manchester United full-back Neville, who took to Twitter to mock the Gunners. He tweeted: “Not so many Arsenal fans on my timeline tonight.”
Arteta will be hoping his side can respond positively against Brighton at home on Saturday, before key clashes against Chelsea, Manchester United, West Ham and Tottenham follow. Their whole season could be defined by each game.
