Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal: Player ratings, heroes and villains as Mikel Arteta’s side suffer shock defeat

Arsenal were battered at Selhurst and will have to bounce back quickly.

Jean-Philippe Mateta gave the home side the lead before goals from Jordan Ayew, only his second goal of the season and a Wilfried Zaha penalty confirmed a masterful victory for the Eagles.

The result was another terrific outing for Patrick Vieira’s side but for Arsenal, it’s important for them to quickly put this behind them and get back to winning ways against Brighton over the weekend.

Arteta lost his first choice left back Kieran Tierney before a ball was kicked and by 90 minutes, he had to replace midfielder Thomas Partey which will worry Arsenal fans who are hoping for Champions League football next season.

Heroes

Cedric Soares- The left back was full of running and on a night where almost everyone of his teammates were poor, he looked decent.

Emile Smith Rowe- Had a decent start to the game but he barely had the ball as much as he would have liked. Still decent if you compare him to most of his teammates on the day.

Villains

Nuno Tavares- was quite poor on the day. Was partly at fault for Jordan Ayew’s goal and it was no surprise to see him withdrawn at half time. Has got pace and looks lively when running but needs to watch his movement and use of the ball.

Bukayo saka- Did not have the best of nights. Found the aggression of Tyrick Mitchell hard to contain.  Huge surprise to see him last as much as he did in the game.

Martin Ødegaard- Missed a glorious chance to pull a goal back for his side and then ended up causing a penalty that gave Palace a 3-0 and essentially ended the contest.