Three points in the bag. Yes, the Gunners had to work their socks off for it too. Defensively, they were all over the map with Petr Cech still lacking the requisite synchronization with Koscielny and Merts. He was often lost on set pieces which is where Arsenal looked most vulnerable.
However, on attack they looked sharp with Mesut Oezil showing nice flashes of one touch skill and a bit more heft when challenged. Olivier Giroud was meaty, beaty, big, and bouncy at the right instances, and Alexis Sanchez inducted back into the starting line, driving forward in that familiar fashion. Just as well, Scott Dann and James McArthur were at hand to make heroic goal saving blocks in the opening few minutes to deny Giroud and then Sanchez. You knew Arsenal had to come up with something special to score and in the 16th minute, Oezil played in a sublime cross which was met by Giroud’s equally sublime scissored foot.
The lead didn’t last long because Palace got back in it and Yannick Bolasie, Yohan Cabaye, and McArthur flooding midfield were getting on the ball a lot more and in the 27th minute McArthur found Joel Ward after chesting down Bolasie’s cross and the full back from 25 yards lasered in a scorcher far post which left Cech rooted to the spot. Not an unfamiliar situation for Arsenal, eh! The Gunners went right back to work but the Palace defence was on a blockathon. Francis Coquelin already on a yellow was lucky Lee Mason chose not to give him a send off with his push on Wilfred Zaha. He caught a lucky break.
Right after the half with the Arsenal defence exposed, Conor Wickham connected with a flashing Zaha cross in front of Bellerin but the ball hit the near post upright and the danger averted. Bellerin however would have better luck with his cross minutes later as Sanchez rising above an inert Ward headed the ball down and into Damien Delaney’s stuck out leg for a deflection into goal. Arsenal back in front with an own goal.
Coq who had been having the dark arts performed on him was a tick away from implosion but was ushered away from the pitch and the Ox brought in. With Ramsey and Cazorla now playing deeper, Arsenal allowed Palace to have more of the ball but they had to wait till the 89th minute for a real chance when Wickham found the sub Lee who left unmarked ran into the box and then lost time switching the ball to his right and Arteta running in managed to sweep the ball away. Arsenal on the counter could have added a couple of more goals through the Ox and Cazorla but McCarthy in goal as he had been all match long was vigilant and snuffed those opportunities out.
Make no mistake. This was a good Palace side and under Alan Pardew they continue to make ground. For Arsenal, the mental block of getting the first win should be out of the way. They have plenty to work on defensively and on attack they need to work more on preventing midfield congestion, linking with players who are more open (a number of passes were played into players surrounded by two or three defenders, notably Sanchez), and improving potency on set pieces (get that corner past the first defender, will ya?).