Mikel Arteta lauded Arsenal’s fight in their season-opening 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace but admitted much more was required from his attackers.
The Gunners walked away with all three points at Selhurst Park thanks to a first-half Gabriel Martinelli header and a late Marc Guehi own goal.
Arsenal dominated the opening exchanges but the Eagles challenged Arteta’s side after the restart as the visitors failed to create second-half chances in Gabriel Jesus’ competitive debut. “We need to be more ruthless in front of goal,” Arteta said. “We had a situation to finish them better, even in the second half, but that’s something that has to come.
We haven’t scored a lot of goals, we lacked that real edge.” Still, the Gunners boss was pleased with his squad’s overall effort, a marked improvement over their 2-0 loss to Brentford at the start of last season.