Was Francis Coquelin lucky to avoid red against Crystal Palace?

Coquelin could have been sent off when he pushed Wilfried Zaha to the ground at the end of the first half and he avoided a second yellow again for a clumsy challenge on James McArthur in the second period.

Arsene Wenger says it was crowd pressure more than foul play that put Francis Coquelin in danger of a red card during today’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.

And so Mason has been assigned to the King Power Stadium this Saturday, where he will be holding up the injury-time board for Leicester City versus Tottenham Hotspur. “I didn’t like to take him off after 60 minutes, but I didn’t have much room”.

“Every time he intervened, the crowd were behind it and putting pressure on the referee”.

During his time on the pitch, Coquelin made four fouls but it was his final foul – roughly ten minutes after Arsenal’s second goal – which proved a big talking point.

Olivier Giroud’s stunning volley and a Damien Delaney own goal ensured Arsenal bounced back from their opening-day defeat to West Ham and registered their first three points of the campaign. When they get up to speed, we’re going to be better than we were today.

Who dominated at Selhurst Park?

“The game was very even. We were sharper in the mind and we still feel aggrieved we haven’t come out with anything”.

“You always get criticised when you lose, especially at home”.

The Arsenal defender also underlined the importance of building a relationship with the club’s new goalkeeper Petr Cech.

“Sometimes it takes longer than you think”, Mertesacker said. “Their bench did too, so taking him off was a natural reaction”. “Even the player himself thought he was gone”, Quinn said.