Arsenal Beat Crystal Palace 2-0 as Premier League Returns
The opening game of the 2022/2023 season was between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Stadium. The Gunners managed to live up to the high expectations they had after a good pre-season and start the season by taking all three points thanks to a 0-2 win over Crystal Palace.
Though the Gunners dominated for most of the first half of the London derby at Selhurst Park, the hosts improved ahead of the break and the contest was closer than the score would indicate.
Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s ability to ride out a second-half onslaught from Crystal Palace to make the perfect start to the Premier League season with a 2-0 win at Selhurst Park on Friday.
On the ground where the Gunners lost 3-0 in April to spark a late season collapse that cost them a place in the Champions League, Arteta’s men held out after Gabriel Martinelli’s header gave them a deserved halftime lead.
Marc Guehi’s own goal late on then sealed the three points after Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze had missed big chances for Palace.
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“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.”
Arsenal were beaten 2-0 at Brentford on the opening night of last year’s season, which triggered their worst start to a league campaign for 67 years.
But they backed up their blistering pre-season form and rewarded the faith placed in Arteta with over £100 million to spend in the transfer market.
Gabriel Jesus’s arrival to fill the need for a centre-forward has been Arsenal’s marquee signing of the summer and the Brazilian nearly marked his debut in style after just four minutes
The visitors were utterly dominant in the opening quarter, but it took a set-piece to make the breakthrough.
Another debutant Oleksandr Zinchenko nodded a corner back across goal and Martinelli’s header had just enough power to beat Vicente Guaita.
Palace had suffered a far more problematic pre-season with a number of key players left at home during a tour of Australia due to their coronavirus vaccination status.
