In a star-studded London derby, Arsenal's tenacious fighting spirit saw them narrowly beat Crystal Palace 1-0 away from home in the early hours of Tuesday morning (22) in the English Premier League with only 10 men left, extending their unbeaten run since the start of the campaign and leading the table alongside Manchester City and Brighton. Arsenal's campaign has been an ordeal, but Dylan Rice, who joined the club in the summer for £105 million (HK$1.05 billion), performed heroically, with heat maps on the pitch showing he was almost everywhere, and became a key figure in the team's efforts to preserve the win.
Arsenal controlled the tempo of the game, with Nikidia going close before half-time, and then in the second half, Nikidia managed to scramble for a 12-yard penalty in the box, which Martyn Odigat hit to seal the win for Arsenal. However, just when Arsenal thought things were looking up, the tide turned when Kenyo Tomiyasu was sent off for a second yellow card in the 67th minute.
Playing with one man short, Arsenal adopted a defensive counter-attack strategy towards the end, and all the players united as one to successfully withstand Crystal Palace's onslaught. Dylan Rice contributed 3 successful battles for the ball, 4 times to regain possession, with a pass success rate of 90%. The heat map showed that he was in deep red in three-quarters of the pitch, showing a very high level of participation. He was even voted player of the match after the game.
