Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal: Three big mistakes made by Arteta in London Derby

Arsenal have handed North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur the advantage in the battle for Champions League football as they were humiliatingly beaten by 3-0 Crystal Palace Monday night

Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira majorly dented his former side’s chances of securing Champions League football as Crystal Palace beat the Gunners 3-0 and moved into the top half.

Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring for the Gunners after just 16 minutes and eight minutes later, Jordan Ayew slotted past Aaron Ramsdale.

Wilfried Zaha then put the icing on the cake for Palace when he converted from the penalty spot after Martin Odegaard clumsily brought him down.

 Mikel Arteta’s men certainly did not look at the standard of a side fighting to secure Champions League football for next season. But what went wrong for Arteta on the night at Selhurst Park? 

Here are three of the things Arteta got wrong Monday night...

Sub-par fullback cover

Put simply, Cedric Soares and Nuno Tavares are not of the quality of a team battling it out for the top four. Granted that Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are Arteta’s first choice fullbacks and both injured, the pair that were given an opportunity at Selhurst Park were majorly exposed by Zaha and Jordan Ayew.

Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka were reluctant to drift into the flanks to double up on the wingers – in fear that Conor Gallagher would then run riot – meaning that the aforementioned wingers were able to expose Arsenal down the wings. The pair attacked with pace and intent, and they were very rarely stopped.

Tavares was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli at halftime as Arteta opted to play Xhaka in left-back rather than the Portuguese defender. Soares was later substituted for Eddie Nketiah and Ben White moved into right-back, highlighting just how disappointing both fullbacks were.

Poor Partey

Thomas Partey has dominated matches over the past few months, but the midfielder was incredibly off the pace against Palace and lost the ball in several dangerous areas. His passes were often misplaced, defensively he was shaky and the former Atletico Madrid star really struggled to get a foothold in the game.

Chelsea loanee Gallagher has been in sensational form for the Eagles this season and he was stuck to the Ghanian like glue in midfield. The England international presses with energy and intent, and it really threw Partey off of his stride.

Arteta's previous decisions justified

Earlier this season, Arteta was questioned on why Emile Smith Rowe and Odegaard weren’t being played together. However, the display on Monday night showed why he has been tempted to rotate the pair in weeks gone by.

Both players are superb playmakers when on song, but they can be quite similar in how they play and the pockets of space that they want to pick the ball up in. Against a compact Palace midfield and with Palace right Nathaniel Clyne often showing Smith Rowe on to his inside, the pair struggled to influence the match and it became congested in and around the penalty area.

When Odegaard dropped deeper to cater for Xhaka playing as a makeshift left-back then the Norwegian wasn’t able to be as creative as he would have liked, but it did mean Arteta’s side were far more attacking. Playing the pair together in a fixture like this will have given the manager plenty of food for thought and proven why he may have to trust his gut in future.