Joe Mardon
The first day of the season often fails to deliver upon the optimism of the summer.
Forget that Arsenal hadn't won an opening day fixture since Everton in 2009. Go back further and ask yourself how Mickey Quinn managed to take 90 minutes out of gorging himself to death to grab a hat trick at Highbury for Coventry, before remembering Mark Robbins and Norwich ruining another Saturday in August.
Managerless Crystal Palace ought to have been in disarray against an Arsenal side who hadn't won a trophy since last Sunday. Still buoyant from the FA Cup and Fourth-Place Trophy double of last season, and with smiles widened by the signing of another superstar from El Classico, I had us down to win by three in a relaxing afternoon. I was looking forward to it.
Such thoughts soon vanished with every minute it took Speroni to take a goal kick. You knew Palace were there for the draw and that's fine, but wasting time after ten minutes? That's Entertainment. It's funny how often the team that has wasted so much time ends up benefitting from the extended injury-time in which they hope to equalise.
Arsenal were fairly comfortable without causing Palace to panic, until the otherwise impressive Chambers joined the list of those in red giving the ball away for free. Szczesny chased out of his area to clear a through ball which Koscielny would have dealt with, and before you know it, Chamakh is winding up to shoot from 40 yards. Had he scored, that Mickey Quinn treble would have been entirety comprehensible by compassion, but Koscielny was back to block the Moroccan's effort before Gibbs saw it out for a corner. I never even knew Hangeland had signed for Palace. Not until he was celebrating the absence of an Arsenal player on the post to clear his glancing header.
I was looking forward to it, and then you wonder why. For f***’s sake, here we go again. Making hard work of it as Speroni lights and smokes a snout before clearing another goal kick, the referee happy for the break to gasp for air. A professional referee ought to look capable of keeping up with play and away from McDonald’s. A man who couldn't even control the vanishing spray is expected to control a Premier League match? Whilst on the subject of the vanishing spray, I'm afraid the time has already come when cheering its appearance will be frowned upon, unless the tubby fella in charge sprays it in his face again of course.
Thankfully, Alexis floated a perfect free kick in for Koscielny to twist his body around and head home just before the break. A crucial time to equalise and how often does Koscielny come up with important goals?
Arsenal's attacking focus sharpened with Giroud replacing Sanogo. There was some confusion as to who had scored amidst the relief of celebrating that somebody had. Monreal? Debuchy? We should have known. It's what Aaron Ramsey does and I love him for it, as the optimism returned.
Debuts:
Alexis Sanchez - it was a team performance that lacked fluidity, as should be expected on the first day of the season. Alexis reflected this as much as anyone, but he's a star and will come good. In doing so, he'll have to deal with the physical attention he'll receive in the Premier League, the added focus of being the star man. Unfortunately we don't have Lionel Messi to attract three defenders, leaving space for others. There was little, if any, space behind a deep-lying Palace. Many teams will come to the Emirates and set up the same and Alexis might find his feet in the counter-attacking opportunities of away games.
Calum Chambers - he carries himself with the stature of a young man who knows how good he is, and that he belongs at this level. Quite quickly, he's making other people think exactly the same of him. Any talk of him replacing Mertesacker is at least one year too early, but many who weren't happy with him as third-choice centre-half might already be considering otherwise.
Mathieu Debuchy - a seamless replacement for Sagna who will grow to be a solid part of the back four this season. He also played a crucial part in the winning goal and was unlucky not to be the hero. Whilst he might not win as many headers as Sagna, he showed a real willingness to get forward and assist the attack. If you have to replace Sagna, you might as well do so with the man who replaced him for France.
*Follow me on Twitter @TheArsenal_
