Arsenal got their first points of the new season on the board with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Making two changes to the starting lineup that lost to West Ham last week, Arsenal looked like a completely different side at Selhurst Park as they came blasting out of the blocks.

However, after a first half that saw Arsenal totally and utterly dominate Crystal Palace, the Gunners found themselves level at the break when they conceded from the Eagle’s first and only shot on target. Sound familiar?

Arsenal had taken the lead though a quite sublime Olivier Giroud not-quite-overhead kick from a Mesut Ozil assist, but they were pegged back when Laurent Koscielny, inexplicably, turned his back allowing Joel Ward’s long-range daisy-cutter to sneak in at the post. Petr Cech was no doubt expecting his defender to stay big and easily block the effort. He clearly never got the memo about Arsenal’s defending.

It took Arsenal just 10 minutes of the second half to regain their lead; Alexis Sanchez leaping like a salmon with a jetpack to find the back of the net, helped by a massive deflection (technically an OG from Damien Delaney) but it could have been so very different had Palace not hit the post in the opening minutes after the restart.

Lucky not to be reduced to 10 men as Lee Mason somehow refused to give Francis Coquelin a second yellow, the Gunners rode their luck. While all the narrative will no doubt surround the non-red card, it’s hard to argue that Arsenal deserved the points, dominating throughout and creating the far better chances.

You can read the full match report here.