Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira lamented his players not taking their chances in the opening night Premier League win at Crystal Palace.
Arsenal produced an energetic performance that was rewarded when Gabriel Martinelli nodded in a 20th-minute opener from new signing Oleksandr Zinchenko’s headed assist.
Then Palace defender Marc Guehi inadvertently headed Bukayo Saka’s fierce cross into his own goal late on.
Vieira later said, “We created two really good chances to score and we didn’t take them. In this game, you get punished really hard. Of course I’m disappointed because we could have scored, even if we didn’t create much.
“Football is about trying to score goals and we played against a good side. It’s really difficult to control the game against teams that have really good players. We had the ball, we had situations but we didn’t create very much. In the key moments, we didn’t score to lift the crowd and build momentum. That is something we have to work on.
“I was really pleased with the fitness levels of the players; physically, we worked hard until the end. You have to run hard against those sorts of teams. We have to be positive because neither side created lots of chances. From the small chances you create, you have to score.”
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