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[Ratings] Palace 1-1 Arsenal: Auba goes from hero to villain for luckless Gunners

By mac14 on January 11, 2020

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sent off as Arsenal blew a one-goal lead to draw 1-1 with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park this afternoon.

We started superbly well as we totally dominated the first half and took a deserved lead when Aubameyang finished off a lovely team move to put Arsenal ahead in the 12th minute.

However, once again we seemed to run out of steam as Palace improved after the break and they equalised in the 54th minute – albeit thanks to an extremely fortunate goal as Andre Ayew’s shot took a wicked deflection off David Luiz to loop past Bernd Leno.

A huge turning point came midway through the second half as VAR upgraded Aubameyang’s yellow to a red card for a late tackle in the 67th minute. It was probably a sending off but the frustrating thing is the lack of consistency as how many reckless challenges have gone unpunished against Arsenal this season?! Pepe has been on the wrong end of at least 3 red car tackles alone.

After the sending off we were content to hold on and hit Palace on the break and we very nearly nicked it in the dying minutes when Pepe hit the inside of the post with the ball rebounding kindly back into the Palace keeper’s arms.

So it ended 1-1 and it was a hugely frustrating game as we should have taken home all three points from Selhurst Park but had to settle for a point which all but ends our slim hopes of getting back in contention for the top four.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 6/10 | Didn’t have a lot to do other than pick the ball out the net and he could do nothing about their lucky goal.

Maitland-Niles 6/10 | Did well up against Zaha as the Palace attacker didn’t really influence the game. But Maitland-Niles still gave away a few silly free-kicks.

Sokratis 6.5/10 | Did well to preserve a point after making a superb goal-line clearance. Solid at the back.

Luiz 6.5/10 | Played his part in the goal and was unfortunate for the Palace goal. Needs to be taken off free-kicks after blazing an effort miles over the bar from 45 yards!

Kolasinac 6/10 | Was heavily involved during the first half when Arsenal dominated but influence faded as the game went on.

Xhaka 6/10 | Tidy display in the opening forty-five minutes when alongside Torreira. Struggled more after the break when the Uruguayan went off.

Torreira 7/10 | Another impressive performance in the first half as he broke up play and kept the Palace attack at bay. Forced off at half-time with a knock and he was a huge miss.

Ozil 6/10 | Involved plenty in the first half as he found space to get on the ball but drifted out of the game after the break. Subbed when Auba was sent off.

Pepe 7/10 | Our most dangerous player again as he was always a threat – although his touch sometimes let him down. Almost won it late on when he hit the inside of the post.

Lacazette 7/10 | Assisted Auba’s opening goal and teed-up Pepe for his chance but still didn’t offer any sort of goal threat himself.

Aubameyang 6/10 | Wonderful first touch and finish to open the scoring and was a real threat in the first half when Arsenal dominated. However, his poor challenge on Meyer in the second half could have cost us the win. It was a silly tackle and he’ll now miss key games against Sheffield United, Chelsea and Burnley.

Subs:

Guendouzi 5/10 | No real impact and was certainly a downgrade from Torreira.

Martinelli 5/10 | A heavy touch wasted a decent chance to get a shot off late on.

Nelson N/A | On too late

Watch the goals here: