January 21 2018

James McArthur

Crystal Palace were brushed aside by Arsenal at the Emirates. Mike Scott looks at how the Palace players shaped up in the heavy defeat…

The last time Palace won at Arsenal, it was October 1994. At no point at the Emirates this time around did it look like the Eagles were in any dangers of changing that statistic.

A shell-shocked away defence had four knocked passed them within the first quarter of the game and did well after that to stop it becoming a cricket score. The Gunners are now the first (and hopefully will be the only) side to do the double over Palace this season…

Wayne Hennessey - 4

The Welshman could do nothing about the first three goals, although perhaps could have done better for the fourth. But shot stops were not the problem; he pulled off a great save to stop Alex Iwobi scoring a second when the Nigerian was in one on one too. The problem was similar to the issues of early in the season, where a shaky start and nerves meant he didn’t come out or command his box, making a worried defence look even more terrified.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah - 4

The home side had a lot of joy down Fosu-Mensah’s side, with midfielder Mohamed Elneny and the mercurial Granit Xhaka having almost free reign. It was Fosu-Mensah’s botched clearance that led to Alex Iwobi’s goal and, generally, he looked frustrated at seemingly having less cover from the midfield than usual. Some good runs forward were a plus, but an excellent, pinpoint ball from Cabaye that dropped to him behind the defence was wasted when he smacked a cross out of play just before Arsenal’s fourth. A day to forget for the Dutchman.

Martin Kelly - 3

A decent enough last three quarters of the game could not hide the fact that Kelly had a nightmare start to the game, failing to deal with anything Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette threw at him. He was well off the pace for the lead up to Arsenal’s second and there seemed to be a lot of confusion between him and Fosu Mensah over cover. By then, he looked like a man too shocked to do his job and he was not where he should have been for the fourth. It took the home side taking their foot off the proverbial pedal before he regained his composure.

James Tomkins - 4

As the senior member of the back four, Tomkins will be reeling after this one. For the first, he was standing motionless yards from anyone as Nacho Monreal headed in. He and Kelly were caught out easily for the fourth, with Jack Wilshere playing a simple pass through to Lacazette that left Tomkins a mere spectator. Between those two goals, he probably didn’t even understand what was happening. He’ll be hoping, like all Palace fans, that this will be his worst game of the season.

Patrick van Aanholt - 5

Considering Palace conceded four, it’s surprising that no real threat came down Palace’s left, so Van Aanholt’s poor game came more from collective guilt than individual performance. He was nowhere near any of the goals, which in itself may say something, but he looked like one of the few players who kept their heads up as the goals went it, eventually leading to Palace getting a consolation. He was an outlet going forward too.

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Wilfried Zaha - 6

Zaha had a quiet game by his standards, although even as the goals were flying in at the other end, counter attacks still continued to come for the away side. When Hodgson tinkered with the system, Zaha found himself playing across the pitch a lot more and he was unlucky not to get one back before half-time when he struck one from central just on the edge of the area, that was deflected just wide. In the second half, he had plenty of the ball, but (as in the game at Selhurst back in December), he found the Gunners’ defence is better than most at dispossessing him.

Luka Milivojevic - 6

The Serbian did score a great goal, catching a header from Benteke on his chest, swivelling and volleying a ball into the far corner of the net. And despite it making no difference to the result, it was the consolation that Palace desperately needed for morale. Before that, he had a mixed game, helping stop it being a truly embarrassing score but, at the same time, providing more space to the home side than Palace’s opponents will be used to. He was caught out for Iwobi’s goal.

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Yohan Cabaye - 4

Cabaye looked like a man who was only just back from injury and it was demonstrated for the goals that didn’t come from set pieces. The Palace back line looked more exposed than they have since the De Boer days. A few set pieces he floated in looked promising, but the Frenchman had little opportunity to stamp his mark, other than a couple of diagonal long balls to Sako and Fosu-Mensah. He had apparently twisted his ankle too, leaving the ground on crutches after being subbed for Jairo Riedewald right at the death.

James McArthur - 4

The Scottish midfielder was, arguably, the man responsible for Palace conceding two from corners, with Monreal losing him for the opener and heading it in and then losing him again to knock the ball across to Koscielny for the third. By that time, the Eagles were already playing for damage limitation. He had more time in the second half and did contribute some overlaps with Van Aanholt, at least.

Bakary Sako - 6

With Palace penned in for much of the first half, Sako was a decent target man, although he caused less trouble than he has been in recent weeks. He did have a fizzing low shot saved by Petr Cech soon after Arsenal went 4-0 up though, and he was unlucky not to have an assist to his name after he set Benteke up with a cross that Cech saved from close range on the hour mark.

Christian Benteke - 5

Another day, another up-and-down performance for the Belgian. He will get another assist to his name, heading on for Milivojevic’s superbly-taken goal, but he saw another one-on-one saved by a keeper making himself big. He certainly looks a lot less isolated with Sako in and around him to run for the long balls or chase his knock-ons, but the pressure is definitely back on him and his lack of composure demonstrates it.

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