February 21 2015

Glenn Murray (Photo: Andy Roberts)

Crystal Palace went down to a 2-1 defeat home to Arsenal.

Their wretched run against the Gunners continues with their last victory coming at Highbury in 1994 in a 2-1 win as Arsenal move up to third in the table.

Alan Pardew's side got off to a disappointing start by conceding a penalty after eight minutes when new left-back Pape Souare brought down Danny Welbeck on the edge of the box. The foul appeared to take place just outside the area but Santi Cazorla put away the spot kick.

Arsenal defended deep for most of the first half and thwarted a Palace attack that lack a killer touch in front of goal despite dominating possession.

And they hit Palace on the break to make it 2-0 with a rare foray on the stroke of half-time. Alexis Sanchez fed Danny Welbeck, who looked to be in an offside position, but his shot was parried by Julian Speroni and Olivier Giroud scored from the rebound.

The Eagles pushed Arsenal for almost the entire second half and got a deserved goal in the 90th minute through substitute Glenn Murray who scrambled home.

And Murray was denied a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser when his shot struck the post from Yannick Bolasie's cross.

Palace manager Alan Pardew said: "I can't remember being as fulfilled by a defeat for a long time. I'm so proud of the players and I feel so despondent for them to not get anything out of the game.

"From the start to the finish we had a game plan to threaten them and give them no time. We were superb, but sometimes this game can be very cruel.

"The performance from the players and the fans was exemplary. We couldn't have done any more. I was kicking myself that we were 2-0 down because we had been so much better than that. We played the best football that we have done since I've been here."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: "It was about fighting for the win. Crystal Palace made it a really tough game and we had to dig deep on a difficult pitch against a good team so I'm very happy with the win.

"Palace gave everything they had. It was like a cup game. They closed us down and stopped us playing."

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