Arsenal missed the chance to move back into the Premier League’s top four and strengthen their hopes of Champions League football as they were stunned by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
The Gunners would have moved above Tottenham with victory but fell behind early on through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header following a free-kick.
Things got worse for the visitors a few minutes later when Jordan Ayew got away from two Arsenal defenders and bent a shot beyond Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal were outfought and outworked in the first half, their only shot on target a Gabriel header at Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
The visitors showed improvement after the break and should have at least got one back as Martin Odegaard shot wide when unmarked inside the box, while Eddie Nketiah hit the woodwork.
Palace made sure of a hugely impressive win when Wilfried Zaha was brought down inside the box late on and the forward stepped up to convert the penalty.
The victory, Palace’s first at home in the league in 2022, moves them up to ninth while Arsenal remain fifth and outside the top four on goal difference, albeit with a game in hand.
An opportunity missed by Arsenal
A dreadful start to the season had seen the Gunners briefly flirting with the relegation places but they have been transformed as the campaign has gone on.
They went into this game knowing they had a huge opportunity to put themselves in the driving seat for Champions League football next season with a win and they had every right to feel confident of getting it on the back of six wins in their last seven games.
But they never got going against a tenacious Palace side as they lacked the same level of aggression as their hosts.
Arsenal have that game in a hand over Tottenham, so still have the opportunity to make amends for this poor performance and recent form suggests this display was an outlier.
However, boss Mikel Arteta knows they will need to show significant improvement in the coming games to ensure they end the season in the top four, particularly after Spurs thrashed Newcastle 5-1 on Sunday.
