Palace humiliates Arsenal, Pressure mounts on Wenger

The Gunners went down to a humiliating 3-0 defeat to struggling Crystal Palace last night and are seven points adrift of the top four.

And Gold believes that Wenger is in a similar position and will end up staying on as Arsenal manager because he knows the club inside out.

“They were sharper and more decisive than us”, he said.

“Arsene Wenger, we want you to go”, came the cry from the Arsenal faithful.

“I face it in every press conference at the moment but tonight I’m not in the mood to speak about it”, he told the BBC.

Asked if he thought his former club would get the better of Arsenal for the first time since 1996, Townsend replied: “I hope so”. If Arsenal somehow turn it around, finish fourth or even win the FA Cup then there is no doubt that Wenger would stay, the club having found a flawless moment to soften what would still be taken as bad news by most fans.

“I’m disappointed like them, and it’s normal they’re disappointed this evening”, Wenger said.

The loss to Palace was the third defeat in the past five league games, and the Gunners are now down to sixth place in the standings after Manchester United took a 3-0 win over Sunderland. Their keeper took their free-kicks on the halfway line, so it was important for us to win the ball in the air, win the second balls, get the ball down and then play our game. “It’s the fact that we lost a big game, and when you lose a big game it’s a big worry”.

“It’s really unusual because we were for a long time unbeaten away from home. It had an impact on us after the second goal”.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher pulled no punches in his assessment.

Fans also turned on the players during the game, chanting: “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” as they offered little resistance against Palace.

“I’m serious. They bottle it, they’re cowards, they duck out of challenges”.

Arsenal dominated possession thereafter but failed to create chances.

“They are talking about how much the figure is going to be and they are arguing about money, but their performances since these talks have been absolutely embarrassing and they are supposed to be the star men of this team”.