Alan Pardew felt his creative players were a little down in Crystal Palace's loss to Arsenal on Sunday.

The likes of Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha were below their best as the Eagles were beaten 2-1 at home by the Gunners.

Pardew was of the belief that his Palace side, although competitive, were not as strong without the clear influence of his usually more animated trio.

"My exuberant players are just below their levels, in my opinion," Pardew said. "They're not quite there yet physically.

"When we get up to speed, we'll be better than we were today."

A lovely volley from Olivier Giroud and an own-goal from Damien Delany, either side of Joel Ward's savage leveller, saw Palace drop points at Selhurst Park in their first home outing of the new season.