Palace made it tough, but a bit of magic from their former player Eze was the difference. The win was deserved; Palace had no real shots on goal (the statisticians say that Raya's claiming a cross was a saved header from Nketieh), and our xG was above one. Nevertheless, it was a set piece--a free kick awarded because of a dumb foul from Pino--that decided this match.
Amazing technique to have gotten over this ball and powered it past Henderson.
Losses by City and 'Pool have put the Gunners solidly in first after nine games. The injury list grew as Saliba, Saka, Rice, and Calafiori were hauled off. Saka and Rice will be available for the EFL game against Brighton, but the other two will need some time to recover from the knocks they took. We have some quality backups for both. We are going to need Madueke, Havertz, and Odegaard back before the festive period at this rate.
I'd like to see starts for Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly tomorrow against Brighton. Norgaard and White could start too, and Kepa in goal. Arteta wants to win this game, though, and Brighton is a tough proposition. Gyokeres desperately needs some recovery time, but who else can play center forward? Merino in a pinch, as we found out last season, but Arteta may do something tricky with a false 9.
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