Andersen's Lacazette revenge, Palace's half-time trick and other things spotted vs Arsenal

As is custom before every match, Palace’s forwards were put through their paces close to the Selhurst Park tunnel in a finishing drill against Vicente Guaita and Jack Butland.

Wilfried Zaha, Conor Gallagher, Jeffrey Schlupp, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew all combined in various ways before one of them took a shot at goal, with Ayew in particular standing out as he found the bottom corner with remarkable consistency. By comparison, Zaha and Mateta sent a pair of their efforts into the Homesdale Road End while Gallagher and Schlupp only managed to find the back of the net once each.

It was a sign of things to come for Ayew, who looked lively from the very first minute and combined several times with Gallagher on the right side inside the first 20 minutes. When his chance came to test Ramsdale shortly after he did exactly what he had done in the warm-up and curled a left-footed shot perfectly into the corner of the goal to double Palace’s advantage.

Palace’s game management was crucial in their goalless draw against Manchester City last time out in the league and one specific tactic was repeated by the Eagles at half-time.

Just as they did against City in March, Palace were late out of the dressing rooms for half-time and left their counterparts dwindling on the Selhurst Park turf for five minutes before eventually emerging from the tunnel. Against City, they went on to hold onto their clean sheet and see out the game 0-0, while against the Gunners they scored the third goal to seal the victory and ensure another shutout at the back.

It’s not clear whether this is a deliberate ploy by Vieira and his coaching staff, but in their last few home matches, it has worked perfectly, giving them a little extra time from which