Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 3
Perhaps the following should be presented without comment: Arsenal are timing their run towards the Europa Conference League to perfection. They have won four consecutive Premier League games for the first time since October 2018 and will not mind that this defeat of Crystal Palace, who deserved to honour the retiring Roy Hodgson with a win, came via their only three shots on target.
Mikel Arteta’s team had hardly threatened in the second half when, in added time, Gabriel Martinelli ghosted onto a cross from his fellow substitute Martin Ødegaard and converted scruffily. Nicolas Pépé, whose superb opener had been cancelled out by Christian Benteke, still had time to score an equally outstanding third and set up a final day that now feels alive with possibility.
At kick-off the sun had shone above Selhurst Park, a rarity for this particular month, and the stars had aligned too. Hodgson’s farewell would take place to a crowd of around 6,500; an emotional return met with a poignant departure, and the guard of honour with which both sides greeted the retiring manager onto the pitch must have meant so much more when accompanied by a resounding chorus of “he’s one of our own”.
During Hodgson’s tenure, Palace have understood how to give Arsenal a game. They had won one and drawn five of the teams’ previous six encounters: getting in those games and staying them, that record perhaps summing up the consistency and redoubtable quality Hodgson has instilled. This time Palace were shorn of Eberechi Eze, whose exceptional creativity will be missed for several months due to an achilles injury, but the pattern of previous years was largely unaltered until Pépé scored with Arsenal’s first genuine chance.
It was marvellously worked, Kieran Tierney slipping a pass to Bukayo Saka and then making a run inside the winger, who located him with a chopped backheel. Tierney could size up a cross from near the byline and Pépé, arriving to meet the delivery at waist-height near the penalty spot, executed an expertly-controlled volley with his right foot.
For a snapshot of Arteta’s Arsenal at their best it will take some beating. They had threatened down the flanks during the previous 35 minutes but Palace, as so often, held firm in central areas. The hosts might have felt regret that they were not ahead: James Tomkins had worked Bernd Leno with a firm header midway through the half and shortly afterwards Benteke, rising at the far post to meet Andros Townsend’s deep free-kick, thudded off target when he could quite feasibly have scored.
Before Pépé’s goal there was still time for Leno to make an exceptional save, sprawling leftwards to tip Jeffrey Schlupp’s deflected volley wide. As with most of the games played to returning crowds this week there was a distinct edge to many of the challenges, not to mention the reactions to them. There was rancour when Benteke clashed off the ball with Mohamed Elneny, both players receiving bookings even though the former had appeared to glance his opponent’s face with an elbow.
It was inevitable, then, that Benteke should inflict an even more telling blow just after the hour. He had missed another header within seconds of the restart so this was third time lucky and, for Arsenal’s defence, a costly moment of inattention. Palace had struggled to get going since the interval but, when Townsend sized up another left-sided free-kick, rightly sensed another opportunity. The delivery was, not for the first time, perfect and an unmarked Benteke gave Leno no chance this time. His firm, stooping finish was validated by VAR, which ruled he had neither strayed offside nor committed a foul on Elneny in escaping the Arsenal back line.
Now Palace’s tails were back up and Leno had to smother at close quarters when Benteke, oozing confidence and seeking a fifth goal in four games, sought to bustle through at a tight angle. With 15 minutes left Calum Chambers thwarted Wilfried Zaha and the frustration for Arsenal was that, with some kind of positive resolution to their season still available, they were hardly battering the door. The Palace substitute Jordan Ayew came close but then, against all logic, Martinelli provided a sucker punch. Before the whistle, Pépé weaved through stylishly and made sure. – Guardian
