Hodgson singles out one Arsenal player that suprise him after Crystal Palace defeat
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson paid a reluctant tribute to Arsenal’s backline as William Saliba, Aaron Ramsdale and co shone in a 1-0 Premier League win at Selhurst Park.
A year and a half after that 3-0 thrashing at the same site, Mikel Arteta’s side demonstrated their progress under high-pressure conditions in South London.
It was not a memorable performance, with Arsenal relying on a slip in Crystal Palace concentration as the razor-sharp Eddie Nketiah snatched a penalty that Martin Odegaard converted early in the second half.
Hodgson singles out one Arsenal player that suprise him after Crystal Palace defeat
But it was tough to ignore the famous three-word phrase as Arsenal stood tall against the Palace attack, keeping their clean sheet despite limping on with 10 men for the final half hour following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s highly-contentious second yellow card.
Arsenal beat Crystal Palace with ten-men
“We worked very, very hard,” Hodgson laments, despite outstanding performances from Cheick Doucoure, Ebere Eze, and Jordan Ayew.
“I thought when we had the opportunity to take the lead when they went down to ten men, we took it and got players forward and got the ball in and around their goal as many times as we possibly could.”
“Arsenal deserves credit for their defensive organization.” They were able to get the blocks in when they were needed. Their goalie was also present to make a few saves from crosses.”
In his first outing since the signing of David Raya, Aaron Ramsdale commanded his box admirably in the face of many Crystal Palace crosses. Saliba, on the other hand, was undoubtedly the best player on the field. A spectacular sliding tackle to deny a goal-bound Ayew would not have been out of place in a Paolo Maldini YouTube clip.
‘I’m so happy’
“I’m so happy to win, I’m always so happy to win,” a relieved Arteta says. “But I’m very pleased with how we won with 11 players and 10 players, and how the team adapted.” How badly they wanted to win.
“The contributions of the bench players.” The way they came on and immediately transformed the game… We keep going no matter what the circumstances or the decisions are. We want to win and will find a method to do so.
“They did an excellent job. With the exception of one cross, they did not concede anything. I believe it was a wide free-kick and a volley, but nothing happened after that. And we had some nice moments where we changed the momentum of the game, which makes me very happy.”
