Sport Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal: Young Gunners start new season with win

Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal live score, updates, highlights & lineups from the Premier League opener

Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace host Arsenal as the 2022/23 Premier League season kicks off at Selhurst Park. Gabriel Jesus is expected to make his league debut for the Gunners.The Gunners are hoping to take the final step in their development as a top four side this season after only just missing out on Champions League qualification to north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur last term.

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Crystal Palace vs Arsenal recap: Mikel Arteta’s young Gunners got kicked off the 2022-23 Premier League season with a 2-0 victory at Selhurst Park on Friday.

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Gabriel Martinelli bagged the new season’s first goal midway through the first half and Marc Guehi was charged with an own goal, turning home Bukayo Saka’s cross, with only a few minutes left to play.

As Friday’s game was the Premier League curtain-raiser, Arsenal remain atop the PL table (they began the day there, alphabetically) ahead of nine more games still to be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal betting odds, best bets, picks, and expert prediction for Premier League season opener

The 2022/23 Premier League season begins anew on Friday as Crystal Palace host Arsenal at Selhurst Park, and the matchup offers up some interesting betting angles to kick things off. Here are our picks and best bets.The matchup is the first of the new Premier League campaign, with the rest of Matchweek 1 kicking off on Saturday and Sunday.

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What we learned from Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

Arsenal possession mouth-watering; corner-kick routine clever (goal video)

The technical ability of every player in the Arsenal squad is rarely, if ever, questioned, yet it’s still downright mesmerizing to watch the way they scoot the ball around the field, playing casual one-touch passes and continuing their run to receive the next one in the same motion. Technically and creatively, they’re every bit Manchester City and Liverpool’s equals, and it was on display very early on Friday.

2022-23 Premier League Season: TSF Staff Predictions

Let the prognostication begin!The upcoming season is sure to be an exciting one as the top 6 have all ensured that there will be no lack of intrigue. Liverpool and City both improved their already ridiculous sides with exciting attackers, United has (yet another) new manager, Spurs have brought in a boatload of talent, and Chelsea are navigating the post-Abramovich era.

The first major chance of the game comes to Arsenal as Gabriel Martinelli puts his shot just wide.

That dribble by Gabriel Jesus. ????

????: @USA_Network & @NBCUniverso #CRYARS pic.twitter.com/G88ESdgOcJ

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) August 5, 2022

The irony of Arsenal opening the scoring, after such a period of possession play, from a cleverly designed and drilled set-piece routine lands just right. The ability to simply put the ball over the line when the pretty possession isn’t paying dividends has been missing from Arsenal for a number of years. Perhaps they’re not yet ruthless, but opportunistic would still be a step forward for the young Gunners.

Crystal Palace not without a few chances, largely holding their own

With all of the Arsenal superlatives out of the way, it must be said that Crystal Palace eventually settled into the game and had ample opportunity to grab a (mostly) deserved equalizer. There was plenty of space down the left side of attack, where Ben White admirably filled in for Takehiro Tomiyasu. Arsenal were particularly flustered and threatened when Palace pressed the backline trying to play out of the back. Two chances sprang up from absolutely nothing in the first half, when Aaron Ramsdale found himself caught between two minds while playing back-and-forth with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

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xG map for Crystal Palace – Arsenal

dominate for 30 / defend for 60 performance from Arsenal — obviously enough to win here but it's got some slim margins on it pic.twitter.com/jhIeqke4dD

— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) August 5, 2022

Tactical focus

Continuing on from the above point, Arsenal were eventually forced to go long with their goal kicks, forcing the Eagles to break them down defensively with four across the back and a pair of defensive midfielders sitting just in front. As has been the case for years now, Crystal Palace’s best moments began, and typically ended, with Wilfried Zaha getting on the ball out wide — wide wide — to stretch the field and open up lanes for runners from midfield, but Arsenal’s central numbers were too great and though they bent often, they never broke.

Stars of the show

Wilfried Zaha – Zaha’s numbers have been consistent as you could hope for years now, but it’s worth noting that he’s an incredibly high-usage player, which makes it worth pondering the possibility that building the attack around him, and only him, might not be Crystal Palace’s best path forward. Again, he was part of everything, but when “everything” amounts to nothing, well…

Chris Richards announced by Crystal Palace in Ted Lasso style

Chris Richards to Crystal Palace is finally official, as the South London outfit has announced the arrival of their new USMNT defender on a five-year deal. The Alabama-born Richards, 22, started with FC Dallas’ academy and transferred to Bayern Munich at 18. [ ANALYSIS: Stats say Richards is primed to shine for Palace ] Richards rose through the ranks at Bayern, starting with their 3.Liga team before debuting for the first team in the 2019-20 season. Two year-long loans to Hoffenheim followed, but Palace leapt into the fray to take his signature this summer.

Oleksandr Zinchenko – Signed from Manchester City for $35.9 million this summer, Zinchenko has taken to Arsenal’s free-flowing football like a duck to water, which is hardly a surprise considering he played six seasons under Pep Guardiola. The Ukrainian international tallied the assist on Martinelli’s goal and was at the heart of everything Arsenal did going forward, a la the Joao Cancelo role at Man City — by definition, playing left back, but doing so with the freedom to drift inside and overload the middle anytime he wants.

What’s next?

Up next for Crystal Palace will be a trip to Anfield, where they’ll face last season’s Premier League and UEFA Champions League runners-up, as well as the FA Cup and League Cup winners, Liverpool. The Reds will begin their 2022-23 season away to Fulham on Saturday (WATCH HERE).

As for Arsenal, they’ll head home and welcome Leicester City, who begin with Brentford this Sunday (WATCH HERE), to the Emirates Stadium next weekend.

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Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal: Young Gunners start new season with win originally appeared on NBCSports.com