EPL: Mikel Arteta praises Arsenal after win over Crystal Palace

In their opening-round 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s tenacity but acknowledged that his attackers needed to step up their game.

A first-half header by Gabriel Martinelli and a late own goal by Marc Guehi allowed the Gunners to win all three points at Selhurst Park.

While the Eagles posed a challenge for Arteta’s team after the break as the visitors failed to generate chances in the second half during Gabriel Jesus’ professional debut, Arsenal dominated the opening exchanges.

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace manager, Patrick Vieira, was left frustrated by his team’s failure to convert their chances in the 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Friday.

He told Sky Sports: “We created two really good chances to score and we didn’t take them. In this game, you get punished really hard. Of course I’m disappointed because we could have scored, even if we didn’t create much.

“Football is about trying to score goals and we played against a good side. It’s really difficult to control the game against teams that have really good players. We had the ball, we had situations but we didn’t create very much. In the key moments, we didn’t score to lift the crowd and build momentum. That is something we have to work on.”