Giroud scores a super goal, Arsenal defeats Crystal Palace to enter top 3

Late on January 1, 2017, striker Olivier Giroud scored a beautiful goal, helping Arsenal defeat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Emirates Stadium in the late match of round 19 of the English Premier League.

Giroud's joy after opening the score for Arsenal. Photo: Reuters

In this match, Arsenal was without creative midfielder Mesut Ozil due to a cold. Without Ozil, coach Wenger sent striker Lucas Perez onto the field from the start to pair with Olivier Giroud in attack. With an attacking lineup, Arsenal overwhelmed Crystal Palace right from the opening whistle and created many dangerous situations towards goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey's goal.

In the 17th minute, from a quick attack on the left wing, Alexis Sanchez broke free and crossed the ball inside for Olivier Giroud. Despite missing his stride, the French striker still managed to fall and skillfully backheel the ball past goalkeeper Hennessey and then bounced off the underside of the crossbar into the net, scoring a beautiful goal, putting Arsenal 1-0 ahead.

Having conceded, Crystal Palace were forced to push up their formation to find an equalizer and the chances continued to come to Arsenal as the visitors' defense left many gaps. However, it was not until the beginning of the second half that Arsenal doubled the gap after a Crystal Palace defender failed to clear the ball from Nacho Monreal's left-wing cross, creating an opportunity for Alex Iwobi (minute 56) to head the ball from 3m past goalkeeper Hennessey, sealing a 2-0 victory for Arsenal.

Alex Iwobi's header sealed a 2-0 win for Arsenal (right). Photo: Reuters

Not only good at attacking, Arsenal is also very solid in defense. Therefore, despite trying to push up the squad in the remaining minutes, but against an Arsenal team that played tightly and covered each other well, Crystal Palace's attack had almost no chance to approach goalkeeper Petr Cech's goal, and had to accept leaving the field empty-handed.

With this victory, Arsenal surpassed Manchester City to rise to third place with 40 points, 3 points behind Liverpool and 9 points behind the leader Chelsea.

According to TTO