Mikel Arteta lauded Arsenal’s resilience in surviving a second-half Crystal Palace attack to win 2-0 at Selhurst Park on Friday, giving them the perfect start to the Premier League season.
Arteta’s team held out after Gabriel Martinelli’s header gave them a well-deserved lead at halftime on the field where the Gunners lost 3-0 in April, setting off a late-season collapse that cost them a spot in the Champions League.
After Palace’s Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze had wasted significant scoring opportunities, Marc Guehi’s own goal in the dying moments secured the three points.
“The win is the most important thing. To win the first match it builds confidence, momentum and then we can discuss the things we have to improve,” said Arteta.
“To win here you need to suffer. We’ve done it and that is part of the mentality we want to build.”
On the first night of the previous season, Arsenal had their worst league start in 67 years as they lost 2-0 to Brentford.
However, they continued their impressive preseason form and gave Arteta around £100 million to spend on new players as a reward for their confidence in him.
The summer’s biggest acquisition for Arsenal was Brazilian Gabriel Jesus, who was brought in to fill the position of center-forward. After just four minutes, the Brazilian came dangerously close to making his debut.
Jesus slid through the Palace defense’s middle, and when his initial shot was stopped, Martinelli should have done better than toss the rebound away from the goal.
The breakthrough came from a set-piece despite the visitors’ complete dominance in the first quarter.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, another rookie, nodded a corner back across the goal, and Martinelli’s header just had enough force to defeat Vicente Guaita.
Palace had a far more difficult preseason than most since several important players were kept at home during a trip of Australia because of their coronavirus vaccination status.
Although it took the Eagles a half-hour to settle in, they will be frustrated that they did not at least score a point after the game’s pace picked up.
A clearing from Aaron Ramsdale was charged down by Arsenal, awakening the Palace supporters from their slumber. Fortunately for the England goalie, the ball rebounded to one of his own defenders.
Before halftime, Ramsdale made up for his earlier error by making a fine save to keep Edouard’s header from tying the score before the French striker had another attempt just miss the crossbar.
In the second session, Palace had Arteta’s team pinned down, but they once more failed to capitalize on their opportunities.
The most negligent player was Eberechi Eze, who calmly blasted towards Ramsdale’s body with only Arsenal’s No. 1 to beat.
“The difference between the two teams is they score the goals,” said Palace boss and former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.
“We created two really good chances to score and we didn’t take our chances.”
In the second half, Arsenal hardly made any counterattack threats, but a stroke of luck allowed them to extend their lead for the last five minutes.
Guehi was caught off guard by Bukayo Saka’s driving cross, and the Palace center-back promptly headed the ball into his own goal.
