LONDON — Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard’s penalty secured a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace after the visitors finished with 10 men following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s sending off for two yellow cards in their English Premier League clash at Selhurst Park.
Both sides had a number of decent chances in the first half-hour with the best of them falling to Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah, who hit the post in the 29th minute after some good pressing by the midfield saw the Gunners win the ball high up the pitch.
Nketiah wasted another great chance in the 36th after he was played in behind the defence by Declan Rice as he fluffed his attempted chip which flew harmlessly over the crossbar.
The striker was in the thick of things again early in the second half as he was felled in the box by keeper Sam Johnstone when running onto a quick free kick by Gabriel Martinelli.
Referee David Coote pointed to the spot and Odegaard sent Johnstone the wrong way, rolling the ball in at the foot of the keeper’s right-hand post.
Arsenal looked set to cruise to victory but Tomiyasu was shown his first yellow card on the hour mark for time-wasting at a throw-in and was sent off in the 67th minute when he collected his second booking for a foul on Jordan Ayew.
Arteta quickly made a number of defensive substitutions that caused problems for Palace and the closest the home side came to an equaliser was a stoppage-time snap-shot by fullback Tyrick Mitchell that flew wide.
The win lifted Arsenal to third on six points behind Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City on goal difference. Palace have three points from their opening two games.
Elsewhere, Mauricio Pochettino urged Chelsea to “believe in the process” after Michail Antonio’s superb strike and Enzo Fernandez’s penalty miss condemned the Blues to a 3-1 loss against West Ham.
After last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool, Pochettino’s side wasted a lively performance as they paid the price for sloppy defending and wasteful finishing at the London Stadium.
Antonio blasted West Ham’s decisive second goal after half-time and Lucas Paqueta added a late penalty to leave Pochettino still waiting for his first Premier League win since taking charge in the close-season.
Chelsea teenager Carney Chukwuemeka had scored an eye-catching first half equaliser to cancel Nayef Aguerd’s early opener for West Ham.
But the turning point came when Fernandez’s penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola just before the break.
Antonio netted soon after the interval and Chelsea couldn’t respond despite Aguerd’s dismissal for a second booking midway through the half.
Paqueta, reportedly the subject of an FA probe into betting breaches, applied the knockout blow in the final seconds.
“Teams like us, we need to get the right balance. I think there were a few actions we didn’t manage well and we conceded,” Pochettino said.
“We create many chances and should have won the game with our first half.
“It was the frustration when we miss the penalty. We were playing well and we didn’t get the reward.
“Disappointed but this is only the beginning. We need to believe in the process.”
Dating back to last season, Chelsea have won just five times in 31 league matches, while their only victory in their last 14 top-flight games came at Bournemouth in May.
They have also lost four successive top-flight London derbies for the first time since 1990.
Much of the blame for those dismal statistics lies with Pochettino’s predecessors Graham Potter and Frank Lampard, who struggled through a turbulent campaign that ended with Chelsea’s lowest finish since 1996.
Pochettino has been tasked with cleaning up the mess, but despite recent signings of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia taking Chelsea’s total spending under owner Todd Boehly to more than £850 million ($1.08 billion), the squad remains a work in progress.
Putting his faith in a largely youthful team is a gamble from Pochettino, whose side’s lack of experience was exposed in the seventh minute.
James Ward-Prowse’s corner was whipped to the far post, where Morocco defender Aguerd easily evaded Conor Gallagher and Chukwuemeka to nod home from six yards.
Discussion about this post