Arsene Wenger admits his Arsenal side were a little lucky to escape from Selhurst Park with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace today.
The visitors took the lead in the 7th minute when Danny Welbeck was brought down inside the penalty box. It allowed Santi Cazorla to step up and stroke the ball home to make it 1-0 to Arsenal.
Crystal Palace then suffered a big blow as they attempted to get back into the game after Arsenal scored a second, right on the stroke of half time.
It came from Olivier Giroud, who hit a left-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Palace put strong pressure on Arsenal in the second half and enjoyed more possession and shots on goal. But the Gunners defence stood firm and repelled the hosts until the very death, when drama unfolded.
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It was Glenn Murray, in the 90th minute, who handed Palace a lifeline after he scrambled the ball home in the penalty area.
Suddenly the hosts looked on course to grab an equaliser and Murray had a golden chance, but fluffed his lines, allowing Arsenal to hold on.
Wenger admits his side were a little lucky and he believes his team felt at 2-0 that they had done enough.
"Perhaps, yes [we were a little lucky], but it was about fighting and playing", he said via his club's site.
"Crystal Palace are a team who played with high intensity, a very direct game and for us it was important to resist and try to play.
"We did that well, but at 2-0 at half-time we came out in the second half much more to protect our advantage than to continue to play and put them under pressure.
"We missed goal number three and when they came back to 2-1 we were a bit lucky, a bit fortunate. Overall we did fight and it was in the end a very important win for us.
"Certainly they thought that it was done and we know in the Premier League that it’s never done, especially at 2-0."
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