Paddy McCarthy outlines what Crystal Palace are missing in their fight to avoid Premier League relegation
Paddy McCarthy says the only thing Crystal Palace are missing to retain their Premier League status is “belief”.
Arsenal took the lead after 27 minutes through Gabriel Martinelli and doubled their advantage before half-time through Bukayo Saka.
Mikel Arteta’s side wrapped up all three points in the 55th minute when Leandro Trossard and Granit Xhaka popped the ball around James Tomkins with ease, with the Swiss midfielder slotting the ball beyond Joe Whitworth.
Palace pulled one back in the 63rd minute when Jeffrey Schlupp reacted quickest inside the area to fire a shot past Aaron Ramsdale.
Saka bagged his second in the 74th minute when he was left unmarked inside the area and swept Kieran Tierney’s cross into the bottom left-hand corner.
Picture : Keith Gillard
The Eagles are three points above the relegation zone and without a Premier League win in 2023.
When asked what Palace need to do to avoid the drop to the Championship, McCarthy said: “Belief – that’s it.
“They have got so much quality in there. That’s what I said afterwards – they have got to believe in themselves and what they’re doing.
“They have got to continue to create chances like they did today. It was a really positive aspect of our game.
“I know we could have defended a little bit better, but Arsenal are always going to create chances against any opposition – they’re very difficult to stop.”
McCarthy was handed the interim job on Friday morning after Patrick Vieira was sacked.
Picture : Keith Gillard
“It’s been hectic – absolutely,” McCarthy said of the previous couple of days. “We tried to shield the players from that as much as possible.
“The start of the game was really encouraging. We created two great chances where we could have gone ahead.
“We knew we would have to defend really well to stop an Arsenal team who are in such great form today.
“If those first couple of chances went in, it could have been a different story.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD
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