Arsenal 4 Crystal Palace 1 : Two former Super Eagles invitees on parade at the Emirates :: All Nigeria Soccer
Two former Super Eagles invitees Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze were on parade at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal faced Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.
Arsenal, smarting from their Europa League ouster in the round of 16 to Sporting Lisbon, were never troubled by the Eagles who had to defend for their lives with Olise repeatedly mandated to fall back and help his right back to cushion the threat of the Gunners.
Olise won a free kick in the 24th minute as Leandro Trossard thwarted his potential counter attacking run.
Trossard was deemed to have fouled the Olise soon afterwards after the Palace star stopped his blistering run towards goal.
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Gabriel Martinelli put Arsenal ahead in the 28th minute when he latched onto to a great Bukayo Saka cross and placed the ball perfectly into the bottom right corner.
Saka doubled the Gunners’ lead with two minutes in the first left after he received a great pass from Ben White at the edge of the six-yard box to roll the ball into a gaping net.
Granit Xhaka made it 3-0 in the 55th minute from close range after Zinchenko and Trossard combined beautifully to set him up, zipping the ball under the legs of the Palace goalkeeper.
Palace got a goal themselves in the 63rd minute from a controversial Jeffrey Schlupp near goal scramble from an Olise corner kick.
The VAR was required before confirmation that the ball had not hit the hands of the Ghanaian forward.
Olise had a chance to make it 3-2 with less than 20 minutes left on the clock after Wilfried Zaha’s low cross eluded him at the near post.
Saka who was eligible to play for Nigeria through his parents until his comptitive debut for England restored the three-goal advantage when he finished superbly from the edge of the box.
The VAR check to confirm if Gabriel Jesus was standing in an offside position prior to the goal favoured the Gunners.
The duo of Olise and Schlupp were substituted by another Nigeria-eligible midfield star, Eberechi Eze and Naouirou Ahamada
eight minutes before full time.
Izuchukwu Michael
Photo Credit : cpfc.co.uk
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