• Arsenal drop more points in Premier League
  • Crystal Palace deserved result at Emirates Stadium
  • Gunners will imminently see Liverpool claim title

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.

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.