Crystal Palace 0-1 Arsenal - Player Ratings

A penalty from captain Martin Odegaard gave 10-man Arsenal a battling Premier League victory at Crystal Palace.

Eddie Nketiah was brought down by Sam Johnstone after Gabriel Martinelli's free-kick, with Odegaard sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.

Left-back Takehiro Tomiyasu was shown a red card for two bookings, that left many furious - but the Gunners showed character to hold on for a vital victory to make it two wins on the bounce. 

Read on to find out who impressed with our Player Ratings 

Aaron Ramsdale: 8/10 - With Raya on the bench for the first time, eyes were on Ramsdale to pull out a good performance – and he did. His distribution was flawless, and he commanded the box well when Palace blitzed Arsenal with crosses towards the end. He looked a bit shaky at one moment where he was close to clashing with a Palace player in the box but otherwise a brilliant performance. 

Benjamin White: 8/10 - 

A player whose performance often goes a bit under the radar, which I also felt it did today. In possession, he is still deployed on the right side, but in defense, he tucks in next to Saliba. It's a new role for him, but again, he quickly adapts and performs well. He didn’t put a foot wrong today in my opinion. A solid 8

William Saliba: 9/10 - He’s got his nickname for a reason, and yet again, he was a Rolls Royce at the back. He made an error in the first half but recovered tremendously with a crunching challenge. I can’t state his importance enough to this team; his calmness at the back radiates to the whole team. He was a big part of the win, and hopefully, we get to see him throughout the whole season. 

Takehiro Tomiyasu: 4/10 - The Japanese international came into the team after Timber’s horrible injury against Forest; however, it was a night to forget for Tomi. He looked nervous and often gave Jordan Ayew far too much space. He was sent off with a second yellow after 67 minutes for an alleged shirt pull on Jordan Ayew. Both yellow cards were debatable, but it still amounted to a poor performance from Tomi, who will miss the next game against Fulham.

Thomas Partey: 8/10 - Yet again deployed in a hybrid role, which saw him defend as a right back but move into midfield as soon as Arsenal were in possession. Personally, I think it worked very well; his presence in midfield helped us, and he looked rock solid defending in that right-back role. Many people were speculating whether he would be dropped when Rice was signed, or even if he would be sold. I believe the first two games have shown that Arsenal absolutely can’t afford to lose him. 

Declan Rice: 9/10 - Arsenal fans truly witnessed why the club invested over 100 million pounds in him. Firstly, he displayed incredible defensive skills and covered the most ground among all players in the game. I want to emphasize his offensive prowess as well. His ability to switch the ball out to the flanks was exceptional, and his ball-carrying skills are unmatched. The way he gracefully glided past the Palace defenders to create a significant chance for Eddie Nketiah was truly beautiful. He was named the official man of the match, and in my opinion, he was the best player alongside Saliba. 

Martin Ødegaard: 7/10 - The Norwegian captain was the difference between the two sides today as he scored the only goal. Despite scoring the sole goal, I don’t think he had a particularly good game. Palace did very well in closing him down when he was on the ball, and when he got a chance to deliver a cross, it lacked quality. As always, he linked up well on the right-hand side with Saka and White, but hopefully, he can have more influence on the game against Fulham next week. He receives a rating of 7 primarily for the goal.

Kai Havertz: 6/10 - Played in the same role as he did against Forest, and we saw why very early on when he set up Martinelli for what should have been a goal. He still needs to develop his chemistry with Martinelli on the left wing, as they sometimes get in each other's way. One of Havertz's biggest assets is his threat in the box; unfortunately, we didn't really get to see that tonight. I think he performed well towards the end, holding up the ball and maintaining possession. The best is still to come for Havertz, but there are already many promising signs. 

Bukayo Saka: 7/10 - Started off brilliantly causing all sorts of trouble for Tyreek Mitchell on Arsenal’s right wing and was involved in pretty much everything. Just didn’t get that end product today as the finishing was off but he was still a constant threat up until the red card for Tomiyasu. Ended the game playing as a left back, a throwback to his early days in the Arsenal first team. 

Gabriel Martinelli: 6/10 - The least impressive attacker today. He should have scored early on, as I mentioned, when Havertz set it up perfectly for him. However, much like most of his actions today, he took too much time and slowed things down. He seemed very frustrated when he was subbed off—definitely not the best night for Martinelli. 

Eddie Nketiah: 8/10 - A player who really divides the Arsenal fans. Some will say he simply isn't good enough to play for Arsenal, while others will argue that he's a good backup for Gabriel Jesus. However, no one can deny that Eddie looked very sharp today. The way he turned on defenders with the ball multiple times and broke into the box was phenomenal. He was also the reason Arsenal was awarded a penalty, reacting quickest to Martinelli's pass into the box. He definitely should have scored one of the two chances today, but he did so many things right and was ultimately decisive for the game's outcome. 

The subs:

While I won’t be assigning individual ratings to the substitutes, I do want to credit Arteta, as I believe he made the right choices after Tomiyasu’s red card.

Particularly, Jorginho and Zinchenko helped absorb the pressure in the final moments with their ability to maintain possession through simple short passes. Many fans probably hoped to see Trossard come off the bench, but Tomi's red card meant no game time for the Belgian.