injury time and almost grabbed an improbable
point for the South London side when his last-
gasp header rebounded off the post.
In the end it was not as comfortable a form of
preparation for Wednesday's Champions League
visit of Monaco as it appeared for most of the
game, but it was good enough to lift Arsene
Wenger's side to third place.
Alan Pardew's Palace are now 13th and
although their unimpressive home record
continues to be a concern, they will take heart
from the battling second-half display that
almost brought them an unlikely draw.
With on-loan Yaya Sanogo ineligible to face his
parent club and former Arsenal striker
Marouane Chamakh injured, it was no surprise
the home team struggled to make a first-half
impression.
Arsenal manager Wenger had no such problems,
and after eight minutes his side extended their
run of scoring inside the first 30 minutes to
nine successive matches.
Palace left-back Pape Soare took too long to
make a clearance and was closed down by
Danny Welbeck.
Attempting to rectify his error, Soare tripped
Welbeck as the England forward charged into
the penalty area, and Cazorla calmly converted
the ensuing spot-kick.
It was also the 10th time in their 13 home
games this season that Palace have conceded
first, giving their willing but limited team a
stiff task.
They swarmed forward and tackled
enthusiastically -- rather too enthusiastically at
times -- but Arsenal looked more dangerous,
and should have done better when Laurent
Koscielny headed Giroud's flick-on wide.
In reply, Dwight Gayle fired a free-kick inches
over the bar after Calum Chambers had felled
Fraizer Campbell on the left.
When Francis Coquelin meted out similar
treatment to the same player, Gayle crashed his
kick into the defensive wall.
More subtlety was required, but at least Gayle
was trying. Just before half-time he pilfered
possession from the dozing Koscielny and hit
an angled shot that was deflected behind for a
corner by Mesut Ozil.
The Palace fans -- who unfurled a banner
attacking the recent Premier League television
rights deal that read: "£5 billion in the trough
yet supporters still exploited" -- were also
unhappy about many of the officials' decisions.
And they vainly appealed for offside as Arsenal
went 2-0 ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Replays suggested that they had a case, but
the flag stayed down as Welbeck ran onto
Alexis Sanchez's pass and although his shot
was parried by Julian Speroni, Giroud crashed
home the loose ball.
Palace looked for an early reply after the
interval but Wilfried Zaha, played in by
Campbell, took the ball too far wide. And when
he later found Jason Puncheon, Cazorla flew in
to block the Palace man's shot.
It could have been all over when Arsenal broke
away and Ozil fed Sanchez, whose shot with the
outside of his right foot beat Speroni but
drifted past the far post.
But still Palace attacked and after Murray had
scrambled home an injury-time effort after
inadvertently blocking Zaha's goal-bound shot,
he almost salvaged a point with a header that
struck the foot of the upright.
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