Tuesday 11 April 2017 11:49, UK
Sam Allardyce says Arsenal were defensively exposed as his Crystal Palace side romped to a 3-0 victory on Monday Night Football.
Goals from Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic gave Palace a superb victory at Selhurst Park, meaning they are now six points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand.
Christian Benteke, Wilfried Zaha and Townsend were a constant threat for Palace, and Allardyce told Sky Sports after the game that Arsenal's set-up opened up gaps for his side.
"I think the weaknesses of Arsenal have been defensive, because they leave [Shkodran] Mustafi and Gabriel [Paulista] really exposed.
"[Nacho] Monreal and [Hector] Bellerin play like wingers, they come inside with the centre forward, and the defenders are just left on their own, so if you can get at them you can get into the box and make chances.
"I think we had the opportunities to score goals, and I think that tonight tactically was the players being aware of what had to happen to beat Arsenal.
"The first thing was to defend correctly as an XI to keep them playing sideways and backwards. We won a lot of possession off them and won a lot of chances off them."
"I think they've had a poor spell of results for the first time in years and years, and every player, top players or not, feels the frailties of that.
"The only way you take advantage, though, is by the team closing them down and frustrating them, not letting them do what they want to do."
Allardyce has led Palace to five wins in the last six Premier League games, but the former England manager insists they are not celebrating survival just yet.
They face Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United before the end of the season, and Allardyce says three points may be enough.
Asked about survival, Allardyce said: "We're still not there yet so we can't talk about that.
"It's been a great few weeks for us, and it just shows you how hard it is to get out of that position, because we're still not clear yet, having won five out of six. But if we continue at this level of performance we should be fine.
"We probably need another three points.
"Everything has worked perfectly today, and the lads have played out the game-plan perfectly tonight, and we kept a clean sheet!"
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