October 30 2018

Luka lets fly with a free kick. It missed but his two penalties against Arsenal didn’t

Winter starts to bite but an important 2-2 result sent a warm message. Jamesey shivered with cold and relief…

Let’s be honest, with the run of recent disappointments, meeting a top-six club, already with a 11 wins on the trot was not a fixture to be taken too lightly.

If it was atmosphere you craved, Selhurst was the place to be for the visit of the Arsenal (Oct 28).

An enthusiastic crowd reacted strongly to an exciting game and, with the current disappearance of the Holmesdale Fanatics, one could almost hear a strong statement from all who were there – give us a great game and a Palace team who can outplay the best in Europe, and we’ll give you atmosphere all right!

After a winless and goalless home season at Selhurst so far, it was a pleasure to see Palace tear into the Gunners and narrowly miss taking the lead early on – a shot deflected off the post from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend’s very narrow miss .

Unexpectedly Roy Hodgson had selected a central striker in the person of Jordan Ayew but with little effect, as seems to be the story with Eagles centre-forwards nowadays. Nevertheless when Alexander Sorloth came on he showed moments of genuine class and promise.

With the scoreline at 0-0, the home side were awarded a penalty a minute before half-time and with the horrible memory of Luka Milivojevic’s miss at Everton the previous week, the spectators watched in trepidation as the Serbian walked to the spot. This time there was no mistake and the Eagles were 1-0 up.

The bad news was to come after the break when Xhaka’s free kick from just outside the box pinged in off the post.

Five minutes later a controversial goal by Aubamayeng gave the Gunners a 2-1 lead. Was this going to be another oft-repeated story? There was clearly a hand ball by Lacazette but the ref and his assistants refused to acknowledge it.

The home side looked the better bet in the second period on the whole but it wasn’t until the 83rd minute when Xhaka fouled Zaha in the box that Palace got the chance to even up the scores with another penalty.

Many of us couldn’t even look when Luka once again walked to the spot. Heaven only knows what he was feeling but he scored with a shot to the keeper’s right – not quite so positive as his first one but nevertheless a goal is a goal.

And to all the Arsenal fans wrongly accusing Wilf of diving, kindly watch a repeat of MOTD where perpetrator Granit Xhaka admits taking out Zaha with a foul. You can’t get better evidence than that.

Let’s all hope that much of the bad luck and silly, unnecessary mistakes have now been consigned to the past and the Eagles can start to move up the table, repeating some of the excellent football they played against Arsenal.

It would be invidious to single out individuals after a superb team effort, but Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka must be mentioned in dispatches. They were even singled out for praise by the usually grumpy Alan Shearer later.

On their showing here, long may the "Wilf and Wan Show" continue for Crystal Palace.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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