Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal
There was a point late on in this game that pretty much summed up Arsenal Football Club at the moment. As chants of "You're not fit to wear the shirt" from Arsenal fans switched to a rapturous rendition of "Arsene Wenger, we want you to go", Crystal Palace fans took a slightly different view, as "Arsene Wenger, we want you to stay" exploded from all four corners of Selhurst Park. That's the point we're at now, where Crystal Palace fans are openly mocking Arsenal's manager, their own fans are in revolt, and not a single player in an Arsenal shirt looks like he deserves to be wearing it.
To describe this performance as a disaster misses the point entirely. The problem for Arsenal runs far deeper than that, and has long since ceased to be a single poor performance. Arsenal have now won just two of their last eight Premier League games, and it has been three months since they last won away from the Emirates Stadium. They've conceded three goals in five of their last six away games, and have conceded 19 goals in their last eight away games, losing six of those fixtures. Being ripped apart by Chelsea and Liverpool is one thing. Shipping five goals to Bayern Munich twice is something else. But West Brom? And now Crystal Palace? This was Arsenal's heaviest defeat of the season and it was thoroughly deserved.
So went wrong? The answer is that Palace were simply better in every single department. Mustafi had one of the worst games of his career, whilst Mamadou Sakho and Martin Kelly were faultless. Andros Townsend and Wilf Zaha were both phenomenal, running Arsenal's poor full-backs ragged for 90 minutes, whilst Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil looked like they were already counting their paychecks from future employers. Neither will be playing at Arsenal next season based on Monday night's display. Christian Benteke was an absolute handful, whilst Danny Welbeck was wholly anonymous.
For a team in the top six of the Premier League to be so comprehensively outplayed by a team in the bottom six suggests that something went horrendously wrong and the reasoning behind it is obvious. There was nothing tactical about this. Palace put men behind the ball in midfield, exposed Arsenal's fullbacks with pace and utilised Benteke's strength. Exactly what Arsenal would have expected them to do.
The problem here was a combination of attitude and ability. Key players simply didn't care and others simply aren't good enough. Ozil and Sanchez made no effort to influence proceedings. Defensively they were absolutely shambolic, with Bellerin, Monreal and Mustafi, seemingly high class individuals, well and truly embarrassed. There was no bite and no quality in midfield. As bad as it was to hear Arsenal fans telling their players that they weren't fit to wear the shirt, it's equally hard to make a case that any of them do based on this display. Even Sanchez, the only individual in an Arsenal shirt who is good enough to win the Premier League, stopped caring weeks ago, when it became obvious that he alone couldn't rescue this shambles of a side.
Whilst it would be unfair to call Arsenal's form relegation level bad, (seven points from eight games is still better than poor old Sunderland or Middlesbrough have managed), it's not good enough to be pushing for a Champions League spot either. With Middlesbrough away and Leicester at home in their next two league games, Arsenal have a chance to claw back some form before the North London Derby, but if a full throttle Palace side can walk through this Arsenal defence, how many are Harry Kane and Dele Alli likely to put past poor Martinez?
But Crystal Palace also deserve a phenomenal amount of credit for their performance in this game. The two goals that they scored from open play were classy goals, with Benteke, Zaha and Townsend all involved in excellent link-up play and a superb finish from Cabaye capped off the lovely second move.
Palace looked in real trouble with their fixture list, but wins against Chelsea and Arsenal have lifted them to six points clear of the drop zone, with Hull and Swansea only having six games left to play. Moreover, the three teams with the worst away records in the division (Leicester, Burnley and Hull who have just 2 away wins between them) all travel to Selhurst Park in Palace's four remaining home games. They're staying up, barring an absolute disaster.
Juventus 3-0 Barcelona
If Barcelona looked sunk without a trace following their 4-0 defeat in Paris to PSG, then they look every bit as sunk now. Whilst the defeat is slightly better on the scoreboard, the opposition is a lot less friendly. If PSG were one of the ideal candidates to blow a 4-0 lead at the Camp Nou, then Juve are probably one of the worst possible candidates, up there with Athletico Madrid.
Juve are a tough nut to crack, which they proved in this first leg, withstanding plenty of Barca pressure, be that through blocking, tackling or through a magnificent save from Gigi Buffon just a minute or so before Paulo Dybala scored his second goal of the afternoon.
This was a game hinging entirely on the goals. Both teams looked dangerous coming forwards, with Barca rightfully denied a goal through offside and potentially wrongfully denied a penalty for handball., and Juve every bit as dangerous, but Juve were the ones who chipped away with goals at crucial moments, exposing horrendous holes in what was a very average Barcelona defence.
And Dybala was destroyer in chief, with a magical turn and finish for his first after great work from Cuadrado, and then Manzukic picked out the Argentinian on the edge of the box on the twenty-minute mark and he rifled in a lovely low shot.
The third goal was a simple but brilliant header from a corner by Chiellini, to further compound Barca's misery. And it all might have been so different if Buffon hadn't come out to deny Andres Iniesta after the pass of the season from Lionel Messi. On a night where Messi played incredibly well, it was a shame that two or three of his majestic passes didn't lead to goals, as teammates fluffed their lines.
Overall, this was a case of Juve being the more clinical team, finishing their chances with aplomb and exposing the holes in Barca's defence whilst doing an impressive job of keeping Barca's key players quiet, although both Suarez and Iniesta should have scored after being set through by Messi, with Sergi Roberto also not taking the opportunity to shoot when he could have scored.
In any case, this result leaves Barca with yet another mountain to climb at the Camp Nou. As for Juve, right now they look like they could beat anyone in the competition.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Three games tonight after Dortmund v Monaco was moved.
- Alonso to miss Monaco GP. Racing in the Indy 500.
- Mark Cavendish diagnosed with glandular fever. Devastating.
- Bartra doing okay after bomb attack. Relief.
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