Keeper Alex McCarthy felt Crystal Palace were unlucky not to get at least a point from Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal at Selhurst Park.

The Gunners took the lead when Mesut Ozil’s cross was sublimely finished by Oliver Giroud before Joel Ward equalised for the hosts after 28 minutes with a neat low drive from the edge of the box.

However, Arsenal secured victory in the second half when Alexis Sanchez’s header was diverted into his own net by Damien Delaney to give Arsene Wenger’s side all three points.

But McCarthy, who joined the club in the summer from QPR, felt Alan Pardew’s men could count themselves unlucky not to take something away from the game.

The keeper said: “It was disappointing - first home game of the season and we were unable to take the three points.

“First half we weren’t good enough, but did create chances, so we can take positives from it.

“The first goal was a good finish, the second one was sloppy from our point of view,

“But if you take them away, we gave them a good go and are unlucky not to have a point.”

The 25-year-old made his debut for Palace last weekend in the 3-1opening day victory over Norwich.

But the former Reading stopper made his first home start on Sunday and admitted he was blown away by the noise from the stands in SE25.

McCarthy said: “I’ve been getting tweets from people saying to bring my earplugs to the game and I could see why as the atmosphere was unbelievable.

“I really enjoyed playing out there in it to and am loving it here so far.

“The fans are really loud and passionate and it’s great.”

The England U21 international also believes competition for places at the club is something which could help him potentially see another call-up to his national side after appearing in Roy Hodgson’s full squad in 2013.

He said: “It’s nice to have a good group of goalies willing to play.

“We have a great goalkeeping union here, so we are pushing in the right direction.

“I had a taste of England at Reading and that’s where I want to get to,

“Hopefully playing week in, week out can get me there.”

McCarthy concluded by revealing what he thinks Palace are capable of achieving during this campaign.

“I think finishing tenth last year means everyone’s ambitions are to finish higher,” he said.

“We can push for Europe as there’s a strong squad this season and the signings have lifted everyone.” 

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