Eberechi Eze\u2019s first-half volley proved decisive as Arsenal closed out a 1\u20130 victory over Crystal Palace at the Emirates. The goal, from a Declan Rice free kick in the 39th minute, was the only breakthrough of a tight contest and preserved Arsenal\u2019s defensive run.<\/p>\n
The opener arrived when Rice\u2019s lofted free kick dropped 15 yards out. Eze reacted first, meeting the loose ball on the volley and converting the chance, described in the report as the first Premier League goal of his Arsenal tenure against his former club. \u201cThere is something in your tummy,\u201d Arteta said of the feeling a player has up against his former club. Eze\u2019s strike gave the hosts room to breathe and allowed their attack to flow more freely in the second half.<\/p>\n
Defensively Arsenal were compact. David Raya was not unduly tested and, for the sixth half of Premier League football in succession, was not forced into a single save. Gabriel nearly extended the lead five minutes after the interval, crashing a header from a set piece against the crossbar amid penalty-box scramble.<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s backline held firm in the closing stages as Dean Henderson and Crystal Palace probed without creating a clear chance. The clean sheet was Arsenal\u2019s 10th of the season.<\/p>\n
Player ratings (out of 10):
\nGK: David Raya \u2014 8.2
\nRB: Jurri\u00ebn Timber \u2014 7.4
\nCB: William Saliba \u2014 6.7
\nCB: Gabriel \u2014 7.7
\nLB: Riccardo Calafiori \u2014 7.1
\nCM: Eberechi Eze \u2014 7.9
\nCM: Mart\u00edn Zubimendi \u2014 7.4
\nCM: Declan Rice \u2014 7.7
\nRW: Bukayo Saka \u2014 7.1
\nST: Viktor Gy\u00f6keres \u2014 6.2
\nLW: Leandro Trossard \u2014 7.1<\/p>\n
Substitutes: Cristhian Mosquera (46\u2019 for Saliba) 6.7; Gabriel Martinelli (66\u2019 for Saka) 5.8; Piero Hincapi\u00e9 (82\u2019 for Calafiori) N\/A; Mikel Merino (82\u2019 for Rice) N\/A; Myles Lewis-Skelly (87\u2019 for Eze) N\/A. Subs not used: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben White, Christian N\u00f8rgaard, Ethan Nwaneri.<\/p>\n
Crystal Palace starting XI: Dean Henderson; Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Gu\u00e9hi; Daniel Mu\u00f1oz, Adam Wharton, Daichi Kamada, Tyrick Mitchell; Isma\u00efla Sarr, Yeremy Pino; Jean-Philippe Mateta. Subs used: Eddie Nketiah, Will Hughes, Borna Sosa, Jefferson Lerma, Christantus Uche.<\/p>\n
Match statistics: Possession 66%\u201334%; xG 0.11\u20130.08; Total shots 3\u20133; Shots on target 2\u20130; Passing accuracy 88%\u201373%; Fouls 3\u20136; Corners 0\u20132.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eze’s volley from Declan Rice’s free kick decided defensive encounter as Arsenal kept a clean sheet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,465,172],"tags":[826,841,253],"class_list":["post-4057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-crystal-palace","category-epl","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-david-raya","tag-declan-rice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}