{"id":13513,"date":"2026-05-25T01:58:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13513"},"modified":"2026-05-29T12:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:27:19","slug":"changing-of-the-guard-and-a-coronation-at-the-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13513","title":{"rendered":"Changing Of The Guard And A Coronation At The Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As countless thousands of Gooners packed the pubs across Islington, and a lucky few made their way south to Selhurst Park, the new Premier League Champions prepared to be congratulated by their Crystal Palace guard of honour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the regular protagonists didn\u2019t start the game as Mikel Arteta chose to protect the most tired and those who still needed every available minute of time to continue their recovery from injury before next weekend\u2019s Champions League final in Budapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s impossible to write about a title win or to talk about the Champions League final without remembering the wonderful fella who gave birth to this bar. It was his dearest wish in football to see the Arsenal lift \u201cBig Ears\u201d in his lifetime. Sadly, it was not to be but, if there is an afterlife, Dave Faber will be right there in the front row next Saturday evening. Hopefully this time \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For this one The Arsenal lined up as –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa; Zubimendi, Mosquera, Hinkapie, Calafiori; Norgaard, MLS; Madueke, Dowman, Martinelli; Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palace also took the opportunity to rest as many as possible as they are safe from relegation issues and have their own European Conference League final on Wednesday. Safe to say we were not expecting a blood and thunder conclusion to the league season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact the match started at a faster pace than I had anticipated and Palace were aggressive enough to foul Max Dowman the first three times he touched the ball. This is a concern for the young man who clearly already worries opposition defences, such is his reputation at 16 years of age. We actually had several early chances to take the lead but none of Jesus, Martinelli, Dowman or even Norgaard managed to beat the keeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The travelling Gooners were in fine voice – \u201cWe are unbearable\u201c they sang as we hit the post on 20 minutes and Jesus headed 3 yards wide of the post from his starting position of, well, 3 yds wide of the post. Madueke, a real curate\u2019s egg of a player, continued to find all sorts of ways to kick the ball straight at opposing defenders\u2019 legs having looked a good bet to go past them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, on 41 minutes a quick fire, vertical passing move saw the new Champions take the lead. Mosquera played forwards to Dowman whose clever flick fed Martinelli. He passed forwards again into the path of Gabriel Jesus who finally buried the most difficult of his four chances to that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half Time: C. Palace 0 – 1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the second half Gabriel and Havertz replaced Calafiori and Norgaard, hopefully to give them time to maintain their \u2018rhythm\u2019 rather than due to any injury concerns. Five minutes in, \u2018good\u2019 Madueke scored with a fine first time strike from 15 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C. Palace 0 – 2 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More good news on the hour as Mikel Merino took the place of Max Dowman. The Spaniard has been a huge miss over the last four months. He would have provided opportunities to rest extremely tired midfielders, and would almost certainly have added to his impressive haul of goals from both last season and this. If the instructions were to conserve energy for next weekend, nobody had told Gabriel Martinelli who put in a couple of rapid, driving runs on the left hand side before crossing for Kai Havertz who unfortunately didn\u2019t have his best shooting boots on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eberechi Eze came on to a great round of applause from both sets of fans, and Madueke left the field with what was, hopefully, only a tight hamstring rather than a strain. Viktor Gyokeres entered the fray and immediately showed us his new improved sprinting ability, if not his new improved ball skills. That is not a dig at the striker, who came on late but looked very determined to make an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Palace, Mateta scored with a strangely unchallenged header on 88 minutes. Kepa looked cross but, in truth, had done nothing to prevent it. Palace had the ball in the net again as SEVEN minutes of added time were announced. Once again Arsenal\u2019s new insurance policy – also known as VAR – ruled out the strike as it hit a forward standing offside in front of Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQue sera sera, Whatever will be, will be, We\u2019re going to Hungaree\u201d sang the travelling faithful in anticipation of next weekend. Gyokeres shot narrowly wide on 96 minutes and Eze fired against the foot of the post before Mr Halam, the referee, brought the curtain down on season 2025\/26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Time: C. Palace 1 – 2 Arsenal <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning here that as all the Arsenal players ran onto the pitch to prepare for their presentation, Declan Rice went straight to Oliver Glasner to wish him all the best. Class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finished with 85 points – 7 clear of the Oily Cheats on 78, and with a superior GD of 44 to City\u2019s 42. City beaten, ultimately, by all the metrics that many pundits claimed would see us lose out again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That victory is a tremendous credit to the club – owners, manager, backroom staff and players alike. It is the result of incremental improvement for a club that had completely lost its way when Mikel Arteta was appointed in 2019. Apart from improving the quality of everything he found himself surrounded by, his great aim has been to unite the club and forge a new connection with a disgruntled fan base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Champions League loss to PSG last season resulted in the development of a strategy to build our ability to compete with a club that boasted an amazing array of talent, not only on the pitch but also on the bench. That strategy included the recruitment of Andrea Berta to build a squad to match the very best. It\u2019s been severely tested by a second year of serious injuries to far too many of our players. That is a discussion for another day. Ultimately that strategy has paid off and has been strongly backed by owners who were doubted by most supporters in their early years in situ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owners have certainly demonstrated their commitment. And we are lucky that a player who arrived 15 years ago in a transfer trolley dash, found something at the Arsenal that he fell in love with and wanted to return to. As a manager, his famous non-negotiables have led to where we are today. Congratulations all, and thank you, Mikel Arteta !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers, Dave \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u2764\ufe0f\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As countless thousands of Gooners packed the pubs across Islington, and a lucky few made their way south to Selhurst Park, the new Premier League Champions prepared to be congratulated by their Crystal Palace guard of honour. Many of the regular protagonists didn\u2019t start the game as Mikel Arteta chose to protect the most tired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13513"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13513"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13522,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13513\/revisions\/13522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}