In the end, only a second-half Martin Ødegaard penalty – won following a foul after a quickly taken free-kick, in a set-piece where a Palace defender was arguably blocked off – proved the difference at Selhurst Park.
Despite Takehiro Tomiyasu’s late dismissal and Palace mounting waves of pressure, the ball rarely seemed to fall to a red and blue shirt – but Andersen took positives away from the game.
He told Premier League Productions: “Sometimes, against top teams ,you need a bit of luck, and we didn’t have that today. A small moment where we had a little switch off – maybe it’s a foul, I don’t know, I haven’t seen it, but it’s what I’ve been hearing…
“I think the penalty changed the game and we did everything in our power to come back. We did really well to do that, but we didn’t create that clear-cut chance to make the equaliser. That’s just unfortunate.
“Everyone gave everything today and you can see in the dressing room people are disappointed and tired. In the end, we did what we could do.
“You could see in our game after that [the sending off], we were the only team on the pitch. We were playing around their box for almost 20 minutes, but we couldn’t create that clear-cut chance. That one goal was the difference.”
After a win and a loss in their opening two games of the season, Andersen’s assessment of Palace’s start was positive: “It’s been good. We’ve played two good games against two very different opponents, and we handled those two tests well.
“Against Sheffield [United], on another day it could’ve been three or four-nil, and today [against Arsenal] we set up – with our organisation – we did brilliant, I think. We didn’t give many chances away, everyone fought with their heart, and I’ve been pleased to see that.”