ARSENAL fear that history is about to repeat itself after another Crystal Palace mauling threatens to throw a spanner into their top four dreams.
Five years ago Arsene Wenger’s team suffered a 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park and a month later missed out on Champions League qualification by a point.
And in April 2019 it was Palace’s 3-2 win at the Emirates which effectively opened the door for Spurs to pip the Gunners to fourth place on the final day of the season.
Now Mikel Arteta is praying that his April Fools are not going to stuff it up again after squandering this opportunity to cement their place in the top four.
And he could have absolutely no complaints about this setback after watching his team comprehensively outplayed by the high-flying Eagles.
If only they still had a warrior like Patrick Vieira to fight their cause when the going gets tough.
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But the former Arsenal legend is firmly entrenched as Palace boss these days and had absolutely no qualms about seeing off the team he once led to Premier League glory.
First-half goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew and a late Wilf Zaha penalty condemned the Gunners to a first League defeat on the road since early December.
It means that they remain behind fourth-placed Tottenhan on goal difference but with only one game in hand on their North London rivals.
The bad news is that they have still to travel to Spurs in their run-in.
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And the fact that the derby has just been rescheduled for ten days from the end of the season means that it’s going to be squeaky bum time all the way to the finishing line.
It is far too early for anyone to start pressing the panic button because there is still plenty of time for Arsenal to recover the momentum they have been building up these past few months.
But Arteta will still be concerned at how easily his team’s ambitions were derailed by FA Cup semi-finalists Palace.
Back in 2017, Theo Walcott infuriated Gunners fans when he admitted after that 3-0 Selhurst defeat: “Palace wanted it more than us.”
And that was the case again last night as they were unable to match the desire, intensity and determination of their impressive opponents.
Arsenal knew they were in for a scrap right from the kick-off, with Palace making sure they weren’t allowed a second to dwell on the ball and pass it out from the back.
And no-one was applying the pressure than Jean-Phillipe Mateta, the formidable Frenchman who certainly wasn’t afraid to make his presence felt.
The powerhouse striker was a man on a mission against an Arsenal defence missing both their injured full-backs Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
That meant a rare run-out for Nuno Tavares, whose last start had ended in humiliation when he was ruthlessly hooked by Arteta just 34 minutes into January’s FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.
This time he made it all the way to half-time before being replaced by Gabriel Martinelli as Arsenal desperately tried to chase the game.
But even with six attacking players on the field for the final 25 minutes they still couldn’t break down the resolute Palace defence.
It all started to unravel for the visitors in the 16th minute as a direct result of Ben White’s clumsy foul on Zaha.
Connor Gallagher’s deep free-kick glanced off the head of Gabriel and hit Joachim Andersen smack in the chops.
The Palace centre-back had no idea where he had diverted the ball but fortunately for him it flew straight across goal for Mateta to bury a close range header.
It was just the kind of start Arteta had been dreading as his anxious young team looked to steady their nerves after being overhauled in the table by Spurs’ Sunday demolition of Newcastle.
And worse was soon to follow when they conceded again in the 24th minute to leave themselves with a Selhurst mountain to climb.
Once again it was Gabriel’s failure to cut out the danger which was to prove their undoing as Jordan Ayew was able to run onto Andersen’s crossfield pass and shoot past the stranded Aaron Ramsdale.
Martin Odegaard squandered a decent opportunity to reduce the arrears when he shot wide from Eddie Nketiah’s 66th minute cross.
And the Norwegian playmaker further blotted his copy when he whipped away Zaha’s trailing foot to gift the Palace talisman a 74th minute penalty which he was never going to miss.
Emile Smith Rowe finally managed Arsenal’s first shot on target in the 78th minute and Nketiah struck the angle of post and bar from the edge or the area shortly after.
But Palace had taken their foot off the accelerator by then and were simply coasting towards the victory which lifts them to ninth place in the table.
Now Arsenal have to pick themselves up, dust themselves down and make sure that this upset does not terminally damage their Champions League prospects.
