Two reasons for Crystal Palace to be cheerful despite Arsenal defeat
From four shots on target, Crystal Palace managed to score two goals against Arsenal.
And while a Carabao Cup semi-final eluded them in the end, their clinical finishing was further evidence their attack is returning to its end-of-last-season pomp.
It was clear how seriously Oliver Glasner was taking Wednesday’s tie at Emirates Stadium when he named a line-up that featured just one enforced change from the side which so impressively beat Brighton on Sunday.
That made their eventual 3-2 defeat to a heavily-rotated Arsenal all the more agonising, as did the fact they led until 53 minutes courtesy of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early opener.
But while a first semi-final spot in the competition since 2012 proved beyond them, Glasner took comfort from how well Mateta finished after four minutes from Dean Henderson’s hoofed ball forward. And how unerring the headed finish was from Eddie Nketiah, against his former team, with five minutes left to play.
We were very efficient today, that’s one of the positive things,” said Glasner, who was disappointed by other aspects of his team’s performance.
He felt they “lost the ball too easily, played too slow, didn’t demand the ball”, but when they got into the right positions, their finishing could not be faulted.
