Two reasons for Crystal Palace to be cheerful despite Arsenal defeat | OneFootball

Eagles attack starting to fire again as Oliver Glasner gets a reminder of his Plan B

From four shots on target, Crystal Palace managed to score two goals against Arsenal.

It was clear how seriously Oliver Glasner was taking Wednesday’s tie at Emirates Stadium when he named a line-up that featured just one enforced change from the side which so impressively beat Brighton on Sunday.

That made their eventual 3-2 defeat to a heavily-rotated Arsenal all the more agonising, as did the fact they led until 53 minutes courtesy of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early opener.

Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring at Arsenal

REUTERS

But while a first semi-final spot in the competition since 2012 proved beyond them, Glasner took comfort from how well Mateta finished after four minutes from Dean Henderson’s hoofed ball forward. And how unerring the headed finish was from Eddie Nketiah, against his former team, with five minutes left to play.

“We were very efficient today, that’s one of the positive things,” said Glasner, who was disappointed by other aspects of his team’s performance.

He felt they “lost the ball too easily, played too slow, didn’t demand the ball”, but when they got into the right positions, their finishing could not be faulted.

Palace were down in the relegation zone for much of the first few months of the season, yet they are turning things round now, beaten just twice in their last 10 games.

Mateta is not enjoying as fruitful a season as last term - no doubt missing the sublime deliveries into the box of Michael Olise - but the winner at Ipswich and early strike at Arsenal will have restored much of his confidence.

The same is true of Nketiah’s late header. He has found game-time harder to come by in recent weeks but rose so dominantly to get above William Saliba and Jakub Kiwior and steer past David Raya. His second goal for the Eagles, three months and a day after the first.

Mateta has played a lot of football already this season, and that’s on the back of a drawn-out campaign last term due to competing for France at their home Olympics.

Nketiah’s goalscoring cameo at Arsenal was an important reminder to Glasner that he does have a Plan B to lead the line.

Nketiah had a late goalscoring cameo against his former club

Action Images via Reuters

The uptick in Palace’s prowess in front of goal can also be explained by Ismaila Sarr’s gradual transition from handy substitute at the beginning of the season to ever-more integral player.

After no Premier League goals in his first 11 games for the Eagles, he now has three in his last five: his fine break-away goal at Villa Park and an inspired brace at the Amex on Sunday. That £12.7million move to sign him from Marseille looks as shrewd now as it appeared at the time.

There is more to be done. Eberechi Eze is still a far-too-peripheral figure, some way off his best. Mateta can still go up a notch or two, as well.

But Palace lost their greatest player and their most reliable attacking playmaker in the summer, in the form of Olise. Some fall-away was inevitable.

The important thing is that those cogs are beginning to turn in the final third again now.