LONDON: Arsenal kept Liverpool’s Premier League title-winning champagne on ice, but only just, as they were twice pegged back at home by Crystal Palace with Jean-Philippe Mateta scoring a superb equalizer in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday.
First-half goals by Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard looked like being enough for a lacklustre Arsenal against a lively Palace side who equalized with an Eberechi Eze volley.
But there was a late twist as Palace substitute Mateta beat Arsenal keeper David Raya with an audacious chip.
The draw left second-placed Arsenal on 67 points with four games remaining meaning they can only match the 79 of Liverpool who still have five games to play.
Had Arsenal lost, Liverpool would have won the title on Wednesday but they can now seal it with one point against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday.
“When I started on the bench I could see he (David Raya) was very high up the pitch,” Mateta, who was voted man-of-the-match by Sky Sports despite coming on in the 80th minute, said.
“So I knew if I won the ball I could try, so I did and scored. It is one of the best goals of my career. I thought it hit the crossbar but thankfully it was in!”
Both Arsenal and Palace have huge cup semifinal games looming – Arsenal in the Champions League at home to Paris St. Germain next Tuesday and Palace this Saturday at Wembley against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
Twelfth-placed Palace could have been excused if they were distracted by what will be the biggest game of their season.
Instead, it was Arsenal who were off the pace as they drew for the 13th time in the league this season and fifth time in eight – a statistic that has allowed Liverpool to all but mathematically wrap up a record-equalling 20th English title.
“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,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
“In many aspects of the game we should have done better today. We have the most important game of the season in six days. We need to get our energy back.”
Palace, who left key players Mateta and Ismaila Sarr on the bench but still fielded Eze, will have taken great heart from their display as they prepare for Villa on Saturday.
Eze took his goal brilliantly, connecting with Adam Wharton’s corner to bounce a volley in off the post beyond Raya.
But the best was saved to last as Mateta, still wearing the protective covering on his ear badly gashed in the FA Cup fifth round tie against Millwall, lofted a sensational shot over Raya after a bad ball from William Saliba had put Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard in trouble.
Arsenal, who fielded a near full-strength line-up despite Bukayo Saka being on the bench, made a great start as Kiwior rose to thump a header past Dean Henderson after three minutes from Odegaard’s free kick.
Trossard then restored their lead when he controlled Jurrien Timber’s pass and turned sharply to send a low shot inside the post.
Arsenal had a Gabriel Martinelli goal ruled out by VAR after the ball went out of play in the build-up while Henderson also made a splendid save to deny Saka’s volley.
But Palace fully deserved their point and could have got all three as Mateta’s late cross almost led to a winner.
“It’s important to keep this energy and confidence for the semifinal on Saturday,” Palace boss Oliver Glasner said.
