3 things we learned from Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace

An important three points for Arsenal as they moved back to the top of the table to put pressure on Manchester City and Chelsea who play in a crunch game tonight at the Etihad. A brace from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was enough to pick up all three points against a well-oiled Crystal Palace side who were determined to give their best against the Gunners.

So here are the three things we learned from the Arsenal game:

Arsenal Can Grind-out Results:

If am not wrong, Arsenal have failed to find the net in the first half of a Premier League game for well over a month now. The failure to find a decent striking option, coupled with Olivier Giroud’s capability to find the net week in, week out means that their midfielders has to finish off chances in addition to creating them.

While Aaron Ramsey was god like in front of goal during the first half of the season, his absence has certainly affected Arsenal’s momentum when teams stay back and defend. However with Santi Cazorla’s resurgence in front of goal and returning duo of Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal have a decent goal threat and it’s not all that bad when you have a defensive partnership as good as the Koscielny-Mertesacker behind you to stop the opposition.

The same Arsenal, a couple of seasons ago would have crumbled. They were not able to break through teams which stayed back and throwed everything they had to stop the shots. The same Arsenal used to give away cheap goals in the dying seconds of the game despite leading by two or three goals. The same Arsenal used to drop points from a winning position more than you can imagine.

This team, for so many reasons are not doing that. They can win in an ugly way, if they want to. They can hold on to the one goal leads and they can certainly score a late winner despite having a moderate attacking line-up. (Am only talking about the strikers, not the midfielders)

Crystal Palace are a definite contender to avoid relegation

Crystal Palace Under Tony Pulis has been some sort of a revelation as the former Stoke manager has management to pull out the side from the relegation zone and looks a strong contender to stay in the division. Despite losing to Arsenal, Crystal Palace stand at 17th, a point ahead of West Ham who are in 18th.

Looking at the table, the bottom 10 are separated by just 6 points, which shows how tough the battle can be. Although Palace are very much new to the Premier League, Tony Pulis isn’t and the former Stoke City manager has got what it takes to guide a club to safety. It won’t be easy for Palace, but it’s certainly possible. Their upcoming fixtures against West Brom and Everton will go in a long way to decide their fate for this season.

His 4-5-1 system looks to be effective and the likes of Yannick Bolasie, Puncheon, chamakh and Barry Bannan look to have found their feet under Pulis. If they managed to be more productive in the final third of the pitch, there is no doubts that Crystal Palace can survive.

Arsene Wenger Has Plenty Of Options When It Comes To Midfield

Arsenal missed the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere, Flamini and of course the latest signing kim källström in the midfield, yet Wenger had plenty options to choose from. Although it won’t be effective in the bigger games, against teams like Crystal Palace, the Gunners have a plenty in their Arsenal.

While Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud started for the first time since the beginning of the season, it meant that Santi Cazorla who occupied the left flanks had to be shifted to the right as Ozil played in his customary no.10 role behind Giroud. This meant Chamberlain had to be deployed in a CM role along side Arteta as both Flamini and Wilshere were out of the game.

But the changes made by Wenger, din’t affect the overall performance from the midfielders. While Ozil usually darts down the right, yesterday he played more centrally and started the attacks from the back which allowed Chamberlain to get a run in at the defenders. Cazorla constantly shifted his positions and played more centrally as the game went on. This shows how dynamic the Arsenal midfielders are. The hopeful return of Wilshere for next week’s crucial tie against Liverpool could be vital for the Gunners.