SOCCER/English FA Premiership/Arsenal - 5 Crystal Palace - 1: On evenings like this, Arsene Wenger must regret even more deeply the defensive problems that have undermined Arsenal's title challenge. His team attacked like champions here, so superior to Crystal Palace that once they had taken the lead they could easily have scored more than five. It must pain the manager that they are apparently fighting for second place, moving back to within two points of Manchester United last night.
Led by the excellent Thierry Henry, who ended with two goals and whom Palace found virtually unplayable at times, Arsenal ripped Palace to pieces after a difficult half-hour in which they were largely smothered and could have fallen behind.
Henry was well supported by Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Antonio Reyes, whose unhappiness with life in London was scarcely apparent as he scored his first Premiership goal since October and had a role in two others.
Even allowing for the struggle Palace have endured this season, some of Arsenal's play was exquisite. The only negatives were occasional signs of defensive weakness.
Yet the early signs had not been promising for Arsenal, who are believed to have became the first Premiership team to select a 16-man squad containing not a single Englishman in the absence of Sol Campbell and the ill Ashley Cole.
Inside the first few minutes Arsenal survived three scares, a couple of them largely self-inflicted, and Palace went on in the initial stages to be not just dangerous in attack but so combative that Arsenal were forced into errors.
Palace would have had the lead after little more than 90 seconds had Jens Lehmann not made a fine diving save from Dougie Freedman's powerful shot after Pascal Cygan and then Patrick Vieira failed to clear, though the goalkeeper shortly after showed the less reliable side of his character. A backpass by Gael Clichy looked harmless until Lehmann allowed it to roll under his foot, forcing him to sprint back to clear from his line.
The sight of Wayne Routledge getting the better of Clichy and sending over a cross which just evaded Freedman was another sign of Palace's initial menace and there was little spark to Arsenal's game to begin with.
Palace's early spree of attacking soon died down and Arsenal had almost all the forward momentum from the 20th minute but Wenger's players were finding it hard to break down opponents playing 4-5-1 and pulling plenty of men back. A shot wide by Henry was a rare effort at goal until they took the lead. The opening goal by Dennis Bergkamp so changed the complexion of the match that a devastating burst saw Arsenal score three times in seven minutes.
Reyes, having struggled to connect tellingly with his team-mates early on, was involved in two of the goals and scored the other, starting by providing the cross, at the end of a neat move, which Bergkamp slid in.
Arsenal then became ruthless. Reyes scored with a low shot from about 20 yards after a Henry shot had been blocked by Hall and then played a short corner to Henry, with the Frenchman advancing into the area before unleashing a fierce shot which Gabor Kiraly could not get near. Vieira then added a fourth.
The penalty that Andy Johnson scored from after he had been tripped by Vieira was greeted with ironic cheers by some home fans.
Guardian Service
ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Cygan, Clichy, Pires (Fabregas 80), Vieira, Edu (Flamini 61), Reyes, Bergkamp (Van Persie 79), Henry. Subs Not Used: Senderos, Almunia. Booked: Vieira. Goals: Bergkamp 32, Reyes 35, Henry 39, Vieira 54, Henry 77.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Kiraly, Boyce, Hall, Sorondo, Granville, Routledge (Lakis 64), Riihilahti (Leigertwood 31), Hughes, Soares, Johnson, Freedman (Kolkka 64). Subs Not Used: Speroni, Borrowdale. Booked: Riihilahti, Sorondo. Goals: Johnson 63 pen.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).
EnglishFAPremiership
P W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 27 21 5 1 50 8 68
Man Utd 27 17 8 2 45 16 59
Arsenal 27 17 6 4 63 31 57
Everton 27 14 6 7 31 28 48
Liverpool 27 13 4 10 41 29 43
Middlesbrough 27 11 8 8 41 35 41
Bolton 27 11 7 9 35 32 40
Charlton 26 11 5 10 30 36 38
Tottenham 26 10 6 10 33 30 36
Aston Villa 27 9 8 10 31 34 35
Man City 27 8 9 10 31 29 33
Birmingham 27 8 8 11 31 33 32
Newcastle 26 7 10 9 37 43 31
Portsmouth 27 8 6 13 30 40 30
Fulham 26 8 5 13 33 44 29
Blackburn 27 6 10 11 24 36 28
Crystal Palace 27 5 7 15 30 45 22
Norwich 27 3 11 13 26 52 20
Southampton 26 3 10 13 28 43 19
West Brom 26 2 11 13 23 49 17
