ARS 5 - 0 CP: A Sad End to Roy Hodgson's Career?

 The Gunners did not have to do anything special to beat Palace soundly.  Goals from a couple of well-worked corners in the first half provided the platform to open up the visitors.  A breakaway goal by Trossard sealed the points, then in injury time the Palace substitutes naively left it too open in the back and Martinelli twice found himself with only the keeper to beat, and did so in Henryesque style (that trademark curl into the far bottom corner).  It could have been worse, too, but for some desperate defending at times.  Interestingly, there were no yellow cards issued in this game.  That's rare.

Graham Potter was spotted attending this game, a sure sign that he's being tapped up by the Palace management as a replacement for Hodgson, who today was recognized by the announcers as the oldest ever manager of an English top flight team at 76.  It's a cruel fate for a widely respected man in the game.

He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996; Switzerland had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s. From 2006 to 2007, he managed the Finland national team, guiding them to their highest-ever FIFA ranking of 33rd place and coming close to qualifying for a major tournament for the first time in their history. He managed the England national team from May 2012 to June 2016. Other clubs that Hodgson has managed include Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Malmö, Grasshoppers, Copenhagen, Udinese, Fulham, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Watford.

Arsenal has a lot of work to do if they expect to challenge for the Premier League title this season.  I think it's not a likely prospect now, but the players are good and maybe things will come together.  I thought Smith-Rowe looked sharp today when he was brought on, and he could lift us.

Palace needs to get points soon to stop the rot.  They're just five points above the drop zone, but four three teams would have to pass them in the standings for them to be relegated.  On the basis of today's performance, I could believe that can happen.  They need Olise back at least.  I will say that their away kit today was very classy.