Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal Player Ratings: Team Player Townsend

Milivojevic celebrates with Benteke – mirror.co.uk

Goals from Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic gave Crystal Palace a stunning 3-0 win over Arsenal – but what have we learnt from the game?

Crystal Palace

Wayne Hennessey – saved Elneny’s effort and Gabriel’s header in the first half. Good distribution. 7

Joel Ward – let Monreal get beyond him a couple of times in the first half but was otherwise solid. 7
Martin Kelly – one excellent clearance in the six-yard box from Bellerin’s first half cross. Some good defensive headers. 8
Mamadou Sakho – showed great bravery to block Sanchez’s first half effort in an imperious display. 9
Jeffrey Schlupp – kept Walcott quiet in a disciplined display. Gave the ball away in a dangerous area on one occasion before half-time. 7

Jason Puncheon – assisted Townsend for the opener. Played deeper than normally expected but did a job for the team. 7
Luka Milivojevic – made some good interceptions and denied space in front of the defence, forcing Ozil away from the dangerous areas he likes to occupy. Took the penalty well. 9
Yohan Cabaye – he’s always been capable of that super technique for Palace’s second, but Cabaye also battled relentlessly without the ball. 9

Wilfried Zaha – enjoyed a wonderful second half in which he beat Monreal for fun. Teed up Cabaye for the second. 8
Christian Benteke – used his strength and clever positioning to win aerial balls from Hennessey’s kicks, making him a good focal point. Rating could have been higher with more pace and better shooting. 7
Andros Townsend – had a hand in all three goals, including scoring the first and helped Schlupp keep Walcott quiet. A wonderfully complete performance. 10

James McArthur (on 74)
Mathieu Flamini (on 82)
Damien Delaney (on 88)

Arsenal

Emiliano Martinez – a good first 10 minutes, then kicked the ball needlessly out of play and lost all confidence. Gave away a penalty for the third goal. 2

Hector Bellerín – a couple of his crosses required last-ditch clearances and he mishit a back-post volley. Poor performance but didn’t deserve to be booed off after fronting up to away fans. 4
Shkodran Mustafi – could not win any of the tackles he went for. Lost all the confidence when defending he had earlier in the season. 2
Gabriel Paulista – his indecision cost Arsenal in the opener. One first half header required a simple save from Hennessey. 3
Nacho Monreal – a few decent first half runs when linking up with Sanchez, but he was consistently beaten by Zaha in the second half. 3

Granit Xhaka – his only good pass was a crossfield ball for Welbeck’s shot. Did not provide the aggression required. 2
Mohamed Elneny – with two sitting midfielders, Arsenal had no third-man runners willing to drive into the final third. Elneny’s eighth minute shot forced a good save from Hennessey. 2

Theo Walcott – anonymous throughout his 69-minute display. 1
Mesut Özil – simply did not look interested. Arsenal need to add more pace in central areas. 1
Alexis Sánchez – three reasonable first half shots, a couple of good balls to Monreal and a second half cross to Bellerin. Nowhere near his usual standards but still Arsenal’s best player. 5

Danny Welbeck – starved of service, his only moment coming in an improvised, tight-angled effort in the first half. 2

Aaron Ramsey (on 59) – McLintock, Adams, Vieira… Aaron Ramsey? The fact a substitute was best-placed to assume captaincy for the last 20 minutes is quite revealing. 4
Olivier Giroud (on 60) – Won a few headers, but none of his teammates gambled on the space. 6
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 69) – looked bright in his short spell and arguably should have started. 6