Gunners captain and Gabon international, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sent off after an hour mark at Selhurst Park as Mikel Arteta’s side drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace on Saturday. He was dismissed for a reckless challenge on Max Meyer during Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace after referee Paul Tierney’s yellow card was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Once again the game was a tale of two halves for Arsenal. In the first half, Arsenal was pressing high and looked composed in the defense. David Luiz used to string the passes from the back and used the midfield perfectly to latch the balls into the pacey forwards. However, Gunners’ couldn’t find the success until 12th minute as Auba scored a goal for Arsenal, assisted by Lacazette. Further deep in the first half, Arsenal had a few chances, but couldn’t find the back off the net. On the other hand, Crystal Palace was looking for an equalizer.
In the second half, Torreira was taken off due to injury and Guendozi was introduced. However, this didn’t bring many fortunes as the Eagles were looking to pounce and silence Gunners. In a moment of sheer brilliance, Jordan Ayew scored in the 54th minute to equalize for Roy Hodgson’s side. Moreover, Aubameyang was sent off in 67th minute which reduced Arsenal to 10-men. Arsenal had to sit back as Eagles started to take the numerical advantage. Few efforts of Zaha and Ayew went in vain as they couldn’t find the back of the net to win the game for Crystal Palace.
Former Premier League referee Peter Walton felt that Aubameyang’s challenge was of a yellow card only but he said that he also understood as it was turned into the red by VAR.
‘I don’t think it’s got enough force on it to raise it to a red card but certainly a yellow card,’
‘They have to watch it in normal speed to look at the intensity and it’s slowed down to check contact.’
Arsenal’s newly appointed permanent manager, Mikel Arteta gave credit for the players of both the sides and lamented about Arsenal players’ attitude in the second half. He said;
“The first 35 minutes is exactly what I want our Arsenal team to play like,”
“After that we started to give free-kicks and give balls away.
“In the first 15 minutes of the second half, credit to them because they pushed. We switched off completely for the goal and that’s unacceptable.
Crystal Palace defender Gary Cahill seemed to be unhappy and had his say;
“We’re frustrated not to get the win, but in the first half they were very good,”
“It was difficult to deal with their pace and movement. When we got to grips with the game we did well. We’re doing OK, but we need to keep pushing and keep working hard.”
