If you happen to come across a fellow Footy fan these days, you may notice a spring in their step, perhaps even an optimistic grin paired alongside it, the reason for which is quite obvious. Pre-season, which often feels like an eternity, is finally behind it, and the Prem is officially underway.
England’s top flight kicked off with a trip to Selhurst Park for Arsenal, as they began their campaign against Patrick Vera’s formidable Crystal Palace.
As far as opening day clashes go, the 2 London clubs didn’t exactly produce an all-timer.
Nevertheless, it delivered in terms of entertainment, and eventually, it was the Gunners who clinched the tense affair through 2 first-half goals. The game provided numerous topics of discussion, many of which rejuvenated Football Twitter‘s true purpose, as debates were quickly underway.
William Saliba’s incredible debut had fans raving, while Arsenal’s impressive attacking fluidity proved to be the catalyst for (extremely) early PL contender shouts.
Another such topic that got fans talking has to do with Palace center-back Joachim Andersen, who was undoubtedly the Eagles’ standout performer.
The Dane’s presence helped keep Palace afloat, especially during the first half as Arsenal threw constant waves of pressure at their opponents. His passing range also provided a jump-point for numerous Palace offences, particularly in the second 45, with Andersen eventually completing 12 long balls alongside 91 successful passes.
The 26-year-old’s ability on the ball and defensive acumen earned him a bit of recognition from fans online, who finally came around and realized that Andersen is criminally underrated.
However, that didn’t end up being the only reason for Andersen-centric discussions, and the other one is simply classic Football Twitter.
Palace’s line-up for last night happened to have 10 black players, with Andersen being the exception.
The Denmark International also happened to be Palace’s best player on the night, a series of coincidences which culminated in this image from everyone’s go-to rating app, Sofascore.
Being the only white player in the starting XI, the bright green next to Andersen coupled with orange popping up alongside the others led to the birth of an ironic race agenda, which is inherently supposed to be sarcastic, but of course, some people are behind the curve.
The reasons behind the meme are likely sarcastic, as Andersen was indeed Palace’s standout. Yet, the meme is essentially open for interpretation, and we just offered up our take.
