Arsenal defeated Crystal Palace thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Marc Guehi, but the displays of William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus will have supporters dreaming, with Gary Neville likening Saliba to a young Rio Ferdinand.
Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Selhurst Park to live up to the preseason hype about their potential improvement. The anticipation will only grow as a result of two new arrivals and one much anticipated Premier League debut.
The summer appears to have been a practice in building pressure for Arsenal. A documentary detailing the events that transpired was released after a late-season error that allowed their competitors to secure Champions League football ahead of them.
.
Add in the transfer investment of more than £100 million, which seems to have solved the primary issues. Add some stellar preseason play, which featured routs of Chelsea and Sevilla. Arsenal supporters had high hopes for that mixture.
This evidence supports that optimism. Arsenal had a good start, and they proved to be too swift and fluid for Palace, who looked slow in comparison. They held on when the pressure mounted in the second half before scoring a second goal. It was outstanding.
On situations like this, it hasn’t always been that way. The Gunners have opened their Premier League campaign on Friday nights for the past two seasons in a row.
They were bullied and physically assaulted by Brentford last year all across the capital.
More recently, an even more resounding loss was inflicted on Arsenal on their last visit to Selhurst Park in April. It was awful to lose to Palace 3-0. Mikel Arteta’s team missed the opportunity to surpass Tottenham and move up to fourth position in the standings with a game remaining.
At the time, Arteta said, “This performance was not good enough for this club. It is time to take the criticism, put your hand up, and apologize.” The momentum was further halted by losses to Brighton and Southampton after that. It came at a price.
