London, April 24 (IANS) William Saliba’s costly error saw Arsenal slip to a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace, leaving Liverpool a point away from Premier League glory.
First-half goals from Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard were not enough to beat Crystal Palace, as the visitors twice came from behind to claim a point at Emirates Stadium.
Only a Palace victory at the Emirates Stadium would have secured Liverpool their 20th top-flight crown without kicking a ball, but Liverpool can wrap up the title if they do not lose to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Kiwior put Arsenal ahead within the opening three minutes with an excellent header, only for Palace to level through an Eberechi Eze volley from a corner.
Leandro Trossard kept his composure inside the area to restore our lead before half-time, but Jean-Philippe Mateta capitalised on a stray pass at the back to equalise late on.
The result extended our unbeaten run in the league to eight matches, but five of those have been costly draws.
The draw means Arsenal are 12 points off the pace with only four matches to play, while Palace are still 12th but a point closer to the European places.
The Gunners’ next game is at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. Their next Premier League appointment is also at Emirates Stadium, against Bournemouth on May 3.
“We are disappointed with the result and performance. We didn’t find enough consistency in actions to dominate the game. It’s part of football and cost us two points. Today they were very organised and deserved credit. We have to do much better,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
Palace coach Oliver Glasner said, “Excellent. Credit to the players. The reaction (to recent results) was amazing today. I’m proud of what the players showed. We scored amazing goals. I watched many Arsenal games and I can’t remember a team with as many clear chances as we had.”
–IANS
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