Arsenal vs Crystal Palace 23.04.2025 - KO 20:00 GMT

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

I’m honestly confused, what is it you’re angry with that we didn’t defend out the lead properly or that we weren’t better going forward.

I think we were poor because Palace made us poor, we struggled to break them down and we struggled to deal with their aggression going forward. Do I think in the back of our minds that certain players might have been more reserved because they are thinking about the European cup, yeah because that’s human nature are you going to risk everything if you think you could get injured by getting into 50/50s. Of course you can argue that Palace didn’t have that mindset but I’d say they are just playing the same way they’ve played all season…they are a high intensity team…we aren’t.

I’m frustrated with tonight, but I don’t think there was any conscious desire to play the way we did. And given take away Ipswich we’ve scored an average of a goal a game since losing Havertz, probably not the worst decision in the world to soak up pressure and try and hold onto what you’ve got.

Angry that we chose to defend our lucky lead instead of improving our play and trying to beat them 5-1.

Thats the scoreline Arteta (or any decent coach) should have been gunning for once they'd assessed their recent away form and the fact that this game meant NOTHING to Palace compared to the semifinal they've got this weekend.