Arsenal player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Declan Rice and Willian Saliba superb
Arsenal survived a second half red card for Takehiro Tomiyasu to claim a hard fought 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side looked to be comfortably heading for a second successive win to open up the new Premier League season when Martin Odegaard rolled in a penalty soon after the interval.
But they had to endure a nervy final half an hour after Tomiyasu was dismissed after picking up two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes.
Palace dominated the closing stages with the extra man advantage, but Arsenal held firm to make it six points from six from their opening two fixtures of the new campaign.
Arsenal player ratings
Aaron Ramsdale: Didn’t have much to do, but what he did he did well. Swept up well. 7
Thomas Partey: Played on the right again, although was always drifting into the central areas. Solid, but not spectacular. 7
Ben White: Fairly comfortable night’s work. Would prefer to see him at right-back though. 7
William Saliba: Made one fabulous late challenge to stop what looked a certain goal. Excellent. 8
Takehiro Tomiyasu: Was given some problems by Ayew, but stood up to him well. Very unlucky to be sent off. The first yellow card for time wasting was needless, but the second was an awful decision. 6
Declan Rice: Really strong performance. Drove forward and linked up well. Looks to be getting used to what Arteta wants from him. 8
Kai Havertz: Never really got into the game. Had plenty of touches, but didn’t cause any problems. Clearly still getting used to the system and his team-mates. 6
Martin Odegaard: Had some neat touches. Unlucky with one fine effort which was pushed over. Took his penalty really well. 7
Bukayo Saka: Always involved and caused Mitchell plenty of problems. 7
Eddie Nketiah: Missed two big chances in the first half. His all round play was good, but needed to be more clinical. Really quick thinking to win the penalty. 7
Gabriel Martinelli: Sent one volley well wide and could have done better early on when he took too much time after being found in space. Great piece of play to find Nketiah to win the spot kick. 6
Substitutes
Gabriel Magalhaes: Brought on after the red card to help Arsenal try and see the game out. 6
Jorginho: Couldn’t really give Arsenal any more control after the red card. 6
Oleksandr Zinchenko: Came on for the final few minutes. N/A
Jakub Kiwior: Came on for the final few minutes. N/A