Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal: Gunners begin with a win at Selhurst Park

New
signings
Gabriel
Jesus
and
Oleksandr
Zinchenko
made
their
debuts
for
Mikel
Arteta’s
side
on
Friday
and
both
made
an
impact,
with
Jesus
catching
the
eye
and
Zinchenko
providing
the
assist
for
the
opening
goal
of
the
game.

Gabriel
Martinelli
was
the
beneficiary,
heading
in
from
close
range,
with
Arsenal
belatedly
adding
a
second
in
the
closing
stages
when
Bukayo
Saka’s
cross
was
deflected
into
his
own
net
by
Marc
Guehi.

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Palace
had
chances
to
equalise
in
the
intervening
period,
forcing
strong
saves
from
Aaron
Ramsdale,
but
he
and
Arsenal
stood
firm
to
earn
their
first
three
points
of
the
new
campaign.

Jesus
immediately
showed
what
he
will
bring
to
Arsenal
by
dancing
through
the
Palace
defence
before
seeing
his
shot
deflected
into
the
path
of
Martinelli,
who
wastefully
missed
the
target.

Martinelli
soon
had
his
goal,
however,
as
Saka’s
deep
corner
was
headed
back
across
goal
by
Zinchenko
for
the
forward
to
nod
in.

Early
opportunities
were
few
and
far
between
for
Palace,
but
a
golden
chance
fell
to
Odsonne
Edouard
before
half-time
and
his
header
drew
a
strong
save
from
Ramsdale
down
to
his
right.

Ramsdale
was
again
called
into
action
early
in
the
second
half,
with
Wilfried
Zaha
feeding
Eberechi
Eze,
who
aimed
his
finish
too
close
to
the
England
goalkeeper.

Arsenal
invited
pressure
in
the
closing
stages,
but
Palace
could
not
capitalise
and
saw
their
hopes
of
rescuing
a
result
dashed
unwittingly
by
Guehi.