Arsenal watched Liverpool move another step closer to Premier League glory on Wednesday night, as Crystal Palace left the Emirates Stadium with a deserved point.
Jakub Kiwior’s early goal was the strong start the Gunners would have been hoping for, until a clever Eberechi Eze volley cancelled out that advantage.
Leandro Trossard did put Arsenal back in front with a well-worked goal of their own, but an impressive Palace were ultimately worthy of more than a defeat and so few could argue with Jean-Philippe Mateta’s audacious lob put them back level at 2-2 and enduring the points were shared.
How the game unfolded
Arsenal needed less than three minutes to take the lead, coming from a set-piece. Martin Odegaard’s wide free-kick was perfectly flighted and an unmarked Kiwior, having easily escaped the lax attention of former teammate Eddie Nketiah, accurately powered a header past Dean Henderson.
Palace responded well, though, have a good sight of goal themselves when Daichi Kamada’s volley was deflected only just wide. From the resultant corner, Nketiah ought to have done better to direct a header goalwards when David Raya got no way near trying to claim the cross. More Raya hesitancy as Nketiah chased a ball into the left channel almost saw it break to Justin Devenny.
Midway through the first half, Declan Rice didn’t miss by much when the ball sat up kindly for him to strike at the edge of the box. But Palace were good value for their equaliser when Eze, looking almost disinterested to avoid catching the attention of Arsenal defenders, took up position on the edge of the box and guided a volley in off the post after Adam Wharton’s deliberate cutback corner.
Nketiah ought to have got a quickfire Palace second, only to be denied by a timely Kiwior block as he tried to roll the Polish defender with his back to goal, six yards out.
But Arsenal went back in front in the last few moments before the interval. Jurrien Timber deserves credit for the way he drove forward with the ball, firing a pass into the feet of Trossard, who managed to dig out a shot from under his feet that crept into the bottom corner.
Raya’s earlier twitchiness didn’t improve after the break. He looked unsure of himself and was bailed out a couple of times. Either side of an instinctive save to parry Marc Guehi’s flick-on header, he tipped a looping ball over the bar after Devenny got a header all wrong, and flapped as Daniel Munoz nodded across the face of goal, without a Palace shirt connecting.
Arsenal thought they had extended their lead with a quarter of the game left, when Gabriel Martinelli turned in Timber’s hook into the middle. An offside flag went up on the Dutchman, which VAR found to be erroneous, but the ball had just gone out of play, so the goal was ruled out.
Henderson threw up a reactive hand to stop substitute Bukayo Saka from converting after arriving late in the box from the far post. That proved to be doubly important, because instead of going 3-1 down, Palace suddenly found themselves level, not undeservedly, through Mateta.
It was a poor pass from William Saliba that was picked off, with Mateta spotting Raya off his line and successfully going for the ambitious lob from 25 yards out.
As the Emirates started to empty in stoppage time, an emboldened Palace pushed a potential winner, but a draw was a fair result for both sides in the end.
Check out the player ratings from Arsenal vs Crystal Palace here.
Bukayo Saka aside, Mikel Arteta went with the strongest XI available to him.
Due to this game being pulled forward to make way for Crystal Palace’s FA Cup commitments, Arsenal have no weekend fixture and the best part of a full week before they are due to host Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Saka is a different case as a result of missing almost four months earlier in the season and taking another knock, albeit a minor one, last weeken. But it generally makes more sense for Arteta to keep the team he wants to use against PSG in match practice in preparation for what is arguably the club’s biggest game since they played in the 2006 Champions League final.
It was wasn’t a fully rotated Crystal Palace lineup from Oliver Glasner, but Jean-Philippe Mateta, Will Hughes and Ismaila Sarr all began on the bench to stay fresh ahead of the weekend. Glasner also removed Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton well before the end when Palace were a goal behind.
The Eagles head to Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening for an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa. It is the club’s 12th ever visit and they are hoping to reach only a third FA Cup final.
Ultimately, at stake for Palace at the end of the season could be a first ever major trophy. This performance will certainly give them confidence heading into the semi-final after a disappointing recent run since progressing from the quarters.
Even though it is inevitable that Liverpool will be crowned Premier League champions, the last thing Arsenal wanted was to hand the Reds that title without them even playing.
Defeat would have meant exactly that, so keeping things alive at least puts the onus back on Liverpool to seal it themselves when it gets to their weekend match against Tottenham Hotspur.
It does, however, mean that just a single point will now be enough.
Arsenal fans feared that Gabriel’s season-ending injury would be hugely detrimental to what remained of the campaign, especially with Jakub Kiwior doing little to inspire much confidence in his first 18 months with the club.
But the Pole has impressed since filling in and this game was a continuation of that. His early goal stands out as a big moment, but just as important was a perfectly-timed block to deny Eddie Nketiah a would-be goal to put Palace 2-1 ahead in the first half.
With PSG and in-form Ousmane Dembele to come, he’s hit form at the right time.
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