Despite ending with 10 men, Martin Odegaard’s penalty was enough to overcome Crystal Palace and make it back-to-back victories at the start of the season.
After Eddie Nketiah was pulled down in the area by Sam Johnstone, the captain converted a penalty on 53 minutes, before Takehiro Tomiyasu was ejected for two yellow cards – our first dismissal in the Premier League since May 2022.
Mikel Arteta’s squad, on the other hand, held to the points due to a strong rearguard performance from that moment on to start the season with six points from six.
Frustration throughout the first half
While the teams were welcomed with pyro, flames, loud music, and cheerleaders, the early events failed to live up to the hype. The visitors had the better chances in front of goal, with Eberechi Eze forcing Aaron Ramsdale into a straightforward save on 15 minutes before Cheick Doucoure fired a 30-yard shot into the home fans behind our shot-stopper.
We gradually came into the half, and after working our way through the gears, Kai Havertz gained possession and slotted the ball between Eagles centre-backs Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi for Eddie Nketiah to sprint onto on 28 minutes. He resisted both challenges before trickling a shot past Sam Johnstone, which hit the base of the post.
The tide was turning, and Nketiah had another chance when Odegaard and Declan Rice combined to put him one-on-one with Johnstone, but his dinked effort flew over the bar, and four minutes before the end of the first 45, the skipper tried his luck from range with a dipping shot that Johnstone had to tip over before Gabriel Martinelli volleyed a Thomas Partey cross wide of the mark.
Important choices
We continued that momentum into the second half and found the illusive breakthrough after eight minutes. The Eagles turned off when we earned a free kick, and Martinelli used fast thinking to slide Nketiah in on goal, who was pulled down by Johnstone. Odegaard was allowed to step up and send the home goalie the wrong way from 12 yards after a VAR review.
Chances to end the game were and Partey had shot knocked away before Havertz fired an effort wide of the post, but the game took another turn on 67 minutes. Tomiyasu, who had already been cautioned for delaying a throw-in, was given a second yellow card when Jordan Ayew twisted away from him, but replays revealed that the touch was minor.
Getting to the finish line
From then on, it was all about digging in and attempting to keep our one-goal lead as Palace probed to try to exploit their man advantage. Mikel Arteta did all he could to get us through the last quarter, so Gabriel and Jorginho were put on to calm the ship.
It worked, and we limited Palace to brief moments of danger despite them dominating our half for the most of the rest of the game, but their huge opportunity came and passed when Odsonne Edouard blasted a header way wide from a brilliant Tyrick Mitchell cross.
Despite seven minutes of stoppage time, we were able to limit Roy Hodgson’s team to just one more chance when Mitchell lashed a half-volley over after a scramble in the box, and the final whistle was met with passionate celebrations from our players, who were overjoyed to have overcome adversity to record consecutive wins.
Statistics and facts
Tonight was our 200th Premier League away clean sheet, making us just the third team in history to do so, after Manchester United (205) and Chelsea (204). We’ve maintained a clean sheet in 28 of our 68 away games (41%) under Mikel Arteta; only Bruce Rioch had a better Premier League record (8/19 – 42% – min. five games).
We have now won consecutive away league games against Palace for the first time since a three-game winning streak between October 2013 and August 2015, and we are currently undefeated in 13 consecutive London derbies in the competition (W11 D2).
Martin Odegaard took and scored his first penalty in a league game since May 2019, when he did it for Vitesse against De Graafschap in the Eredivise. Indeed, he is just the third player to have scored at least 10 Premier League goals away from home since the start of last season, behind Erling Haaland and Harry Kane (both 16).
This was Roy Hodgson’s first league loss at Selhurst Park since his return in April (P5 W3 D2 prior to today), and the club has only won their opening home league game of the season once in 11 Premier League seasons since 2013-14 (W1 D2 L8).
Bukayo Saka made his 82nd straight Premier League appearance for us today evening, equaling Paul Merson’s club record established between February 1995 and February 1997.
What comes next?
We have another capital battle on Saturday as Fulham visit Emirates Stadium for a regular 3pm kickoff, and then Manchester United visit eight days later on Sunday, September 3.
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