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LONDON: Arsenal ensured there was no repeat of their disastrous begin to final season as Mikel Arteta’s males noticed off Crystal Palace 2-0 on Friday to open the thirtieth season of the Premier League.
The Gunners had been crushed 2-0 at Brentford on the opening night time of final yr’s season, which triggered their worst begin to a league marketing campaign for 67 years.
However they backed up their blistering pre-season kind as Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half header and a late Marc Guehi personal objective made amends for a 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park in April.
That defeat sparked a run of 5 defeats within the closing 10 video games of the season to price Arsenal a spot within the Premier League high 4 for a sixth straight yr.
However the board has saved religion with Arteta and backed the Spaniard with over £100 million to spend within the switch market.
Gabriel Jesus’ arrival to fill the necessity for a centre-forward has been Arsenal’s marquee signing of the summer time and the Brazilian practically marked his debut in fashion after simply 4 minutes.
Jesus slalomed by way of the centre of the Palace defence and when his preliminary effort was blocked, Martinelli ought to have completed higher than slot the rebound broad of the goal.
The guests had been totally dominant within the opening quarter, but it surely took a set-piece to make the breakthrough.
One other debutant Oleksandr Zinchenko nodded a nook again throughout objective and Martinelli’s header had simply sufficient energy to beat Vicente Guaita.
Palace had suffered a much more problematic pre-season with a lot of key gamers left at residence throughout a tour of Australia on account of their coronavirus vaccination standing.
The Eagles took half an hour to seek out their toes, however will probably be disenchanted to not have at the least taken some extent as soon as they obtained to the tempo of the sport.
Arsenal had been responsible of inflicting their very own issues in elevating the Palace followers from their slumber as a clearance from Aaron Ramsdale was charged down and luckily for the England goalkeeper rebounded to considered one of his personal defenders.
Ramsdale made amends earlier than the break with a high-quality cease to disclaim Odsonne Edouard’s header levelling earlier than the French striker had one other effort deflected inches over the bar.
Palace penned Arteta’s males again within the second interval, however once more did not take their possibilities once they got here alongside.
Eberechi Eze was essentially the most responsible as he fired tamely into Ramsdale’s physique with simply the Arsenal primary to beat.
Arsenal had barely even threatened on the counter-attack within the second half, however obtained fortunate to present themselves respiratory area for the ultimate 5 minutes.
Bukayo Saka’s pushed cross caught his England teammate Guehi off guard because the Palace centre-back’s header flew into his personal internet.
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