23 April 2025
Arsenal 2 Crystal Palace 2
Mikel Arteta came into this match still refusing to rule out his side catching league leaders Liverpool. The Gunners welcomed Crystal Palace to The Emirates for a London derby. The Eagles have a woeful record in North London and many saw this as a game that should be a routine win for the hosts. They even opted to leave Saka on the bench as Sterling made a rare start.
His loan spell from Chelsea has not lived up to expectation. Well actually, that may not be true. Every football fan but ones with Arsenal shirts could have predicted how this was going to go. The winger does not look the same player since leaving Man City and you start to wonder how many times The Gunners are willing to have their fingers burnt by dreadful signings from The Blues.
The hosts made the perfect start to the game as they won a free-kick wide in the Palace half. Odegaard clipped a ball into the box and Kiwior rose to head home and grab his first-ever Premier League goal for the club. The Emirates erupted, with fans expecting to see a rout after breaking the deadlock with only three minutes on the clock.
It was dreadful marking from Oliver Glasner’s side as the defender had a completely free header. With The Eagles having an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to on the weekend, a game like this could always go one of two ways. Players could be dialled-out and not wanting to pick up an injury, although you would like to think professionals would be looking to impress to secure their starting spot.
After such a dramatic start to the match, The Gunners failed to create much in the way of clear-cut chances. They fell into their ever-repeating cycle of dominating possession but showing no penetration as a result. This seemed to allow the visitors to grow into the game and start venturing forward more, with Eze seeing lots of the ball.
The Eagles forced a corner and played out a training ground routine. Wharton drifted it towards an unmarked Eze on the edge of the box. He met it on the volley and drilled his effort into the ground as it beat Rays and clipped the inside of the post on its way in. It was a brilliant piece of technique from Crystal Palace talisman and completely silenced The Emirates.
Glasner’s side should have gone in at the break in the lead. Eze did well out wide, before lifting a ball into Nketiah on the edge of the six yard box in the middle. With his back to goal, he spun his marker before unleashing a shot at goal. Somehow, Kiwior managed to deflect it over his own crossbar but the former Arsenal striker really should have been scoring from there.
They paid the ultimate price as The Gunners went down the other end and punished them. Timber played it into Trossard on the edge of the box. He turned away from the defenders in front of him and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom corner to restore Arsenal’s lead. It seemed that normal service had been resumed in the capital.
After the break, the hosts thought they had put this game to bed. Timber hooked the ball into the middle from the byline, putting it on a plate for Martinelli to slot home. The assistant then raised their flag to disallow the effort for offside. VAR reviewed it and proved he was in fact on but it had gone out of player before the full-back crossed it.
Arteta opted to bring Saka on so they could put this game to bed. Martinelli crossed into his teammate and he volleyed towards goal. It took a slight deflection off the defender making Henderson’s save to turn it over the bar all the more impressive. Gunners’ players stood with their heads in their hands, unable to believe how they had not scored.
As time was running out in this game, the Arsenal comedy troop went into another rib-tickling sketch. Raya had the ball wide in his box and played it to Saliba. He passed it to Kiwior, who gave it straight back to him. His first touch was poor and the pass that followed just gifted it to Mateta, with his back to goal some way outside the box.
Incredibly, as he looked up, he had a completely empty goal to aim for as Raya had not returned from his walkabout. The striker spun and clipped a shot towards goal. Arsenal’s keeper sprinted back towards his own goal but could not get anywhere near it as it clipped the underside of the bar on its way in. The Emirates was silent apart from the away end where Palace fans celebrated.
The Eagles looked the more likely to score in the limited time remaining and possibly should have. As the referee brought the game to a close, it was more points dropped by Mikel Arteta’s side. Ironically, after the match the official Crystal Palace X account tweeted ‘Liverpool, you’re welcome’ as they handed The Reds a chance to win the title at Anfield on the weekend against Tottenham.
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