However, the Hammers came out firing on all cylinders and with Jamie Vardy getting red-carded, they were rewarded late on in the game with an Andy Caroll penalty in the 84th minute and a fantastic half-volley from Aaron Cresswell.
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Last week’s disappointing 3-3 draw at West Ham, in which Andy Carroll scored a hat-trick after Arsenal built a two-goal lead, owed much to the lack of authority displayed by present first-choice central defenders Gabriel Paulista and Laurent Koscielny.
“He’s probably one of the most technically-gifted players we have in the team and obviously he brings a lot to the side”. The Premier League and Arsenal have been the same story for over a decade, a continuous frustration, another lost season…
Arsenal saw Sanchez head Ozil’s quickly taken free-kick just wide but Palace, who had created little, served notice they could still snatch an unlikely point in the 77th munute.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits his side have to focus on making it to next season’s Champions League rather than fighting for the title.
“Given the way we play, Santi is the ideal player for us because he loves receiving the ball, he brings our centre-backs into the game and really helps us to bring the ball out”, the defender told Arsenal’s official website.
“I am not in the mood to dream about the championship”. It is one of those days where you don’t like to do a press conference after because it is not pleasant.
“For everybody it is tight, and we have to look behind us because everybody is chasing”, Wenger said. They managed to get a counter-attack and hit it on the floor, the ball skidded fast, I got a bit of a touch. We need to prove that.
“Punch has that for us and it will be important on Sunday that he keeps hold of it and makes the right decisions for us”.
“Other teams are coming very close now and there will be an interesting fight until the end of the season”.
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Arsenal next host West Brom on Thursday night before matches with relegation-threatened Sunderland and Norwich, who will be desperate for points as the number of games begin to run out.
