{"id":12481,"date":"2025-12-24T10:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T10:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12481"},"modified":"2025-12-26T22:47:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:47:02","slug":"palace-stormed-on-to-the-bus-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12481","title":{"rendered":"Palace Stormed, on to the Bus Stop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Arsenal squeezed through to the semi finals of the Carabao Cup on penalties against FA cup holders Crystal Palace on an eventful night in N5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta named a strong side despite making eight changes. Cup \u2018keeper Kepa deputised for Raya, MLS made a rare start as did N\u00f8rgaard, whilst Jes\u00f9s made his first start since returning from almost a year on the sidelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started very strongly as the first half saw us create a whole host of chances. Noni Madueke went close on three occasions as the Palace \u2018keeper was forced into making save after save. First he fired straight down the keeper\u2019s throat after being sent through on goal. Then he flicked the ball straight at Benitez after great work from Martinelli who was having a productive night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments later Martinelli drove at his right back and delivered a delicious cross for Jes\u00f9s who thought he headed home only for another wonderful save from Benitez. We weren\u2019t knocking on the door, we were hammering it down, but Benitez was acting as a force field around the goal and we just couldn\u2019t force the ball home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madueke went close again from an MLS cross after yet more good work from Martinelli down the left hand side but Noni fired too close to Benitez who parried the ball over. Palace improved after the break seeing more of the ball without really creating an awful lot. Adam Wharton fired wide from a decent position just outside the area but Arsenal soon regained control and we went close again as Gabriel Jes\u00f9s forced yet another save out of Benitez after a really impressive break away move involving several players. Would it be another one of those nights for The Arsenal? In recent seasons we\u2019ve seen a number of cup exits after failing to take a raft of chances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten minutes from time we finally found a way through and once again it came from a corner. Saka\u2019s delivery was typically excellent, Calafiori\u2019s initial header was blocked, leading to an almighty scramble in the six yard box, and the ball eventually bumbled in off Palace defender Maxence Lacroix for an unfortunate OG! A slice of luck for sure but one we had certainly earned through our endeavour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber almost found a second after robbing Mitchell in front of his own goal but Benitez again made himself big to keep Palace in the tie. And eventually we did pay the price for our missed chances as Saliba gave away a cheap foul near the touchline and Guehi prodded home and there was bedlam from the Palace fans who were housed in the Clock End lower. Disappointing after giving away practically nothing over the 90 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We almost won it right at the death as Saka\u2019s diagonal ball found Rice who was denied again by Benitez. Penalties it was. You could really feel the tension in the ground. I think we all knew what the narrative would be if we lost this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The penalty shoot out was quite the spectacle. Despite Benitez\u2019s heroics in normal time, he couldn\u2019t get near a single Arsenal penalty. He wasn\u2019t the only one. \u00d8degaard, Rice, Saka, Trossard, Merino, Timber, Calafiori and Saliba all dispatched their penalties as did the first seven Palace takers. But Lacroix, who had already suffered misfortune with the own goal was the first one to blink as Kepa finally made a save. Arsenal were through to the semis for the second year in a row and it is Chelsea who await us. That\u2019s a two-legged tie, don\u2019t forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t deny we deserved to go through but it\u2019s a slight concern that we missed so many chances. In fairness, it\u2019s not as though we were missing sitters, but Manchester City probably convert 2-3 of those chances. But the records will state another win, and our pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple goes on! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onto Brighton. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Arsenal squeezed through to the semi finals of the Carabao Cup on penalties against FA cup holders Crystal Palace on an eventful night in N5.  Arteta named a strong side despite making eight changes. Cup \u2018keeper Kepa deputised for Raya, MLS made a rare start as did N\u00f8rgaard, whilst Jes\u00f9s made his first start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12485,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12481\/revisions\/12485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}