Arsenal’s top-four hopes suffered a significant blow as they were deservedly beaten 3-0 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Mikel Arteta’s side saw Tottenham go above them in the Premier League on goal difference on Sunday, but they had the chance to respond on Monday night in the first of their two games in hand.
It didn’t happen though, as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew scored in a rampant display from the Eagles in the first 30 minutes, capitalising on a woeful showing from the visitors.
Arsenal could not find a response after the break, with Wilfried Zaha putting the icing on the cake from the penalty spot.
The Gunners remain level on points with Spurs, but their game in hand is away to Chelsea and they still have to travel to their big rivals later in the season. Any momentum picked up before the international break seems to have quickly disappeared.
Arsenal had mixed team news, with a big boost as Aaron Ramsdale returned to start but Kieran Tierney missed out on the squad after picking up a knee injury.
From the very first minute, it was Palace who displayed far more energy and purpose at Selhurst Park against a visibily rattled Gunners side. Gabriel in particular struggled to deal with the pressure being put on him.
The Eagles took a deserved lead with 16 minutes played. Ben White gave away a needless free-kick, which was swung into the box and headed back across the face of goal slightly fortuitously by Joachim Andersen. Mateta was there waiting and had a simple headed finish past a stranded Ramsdale.
That didn’t wake the Gunners up though and they were soon two goals down and in a sorry state. Anderson fired a pass forward, Gabriel came out of defence and slid in trying to intercept. He couldn’t cut the ball out though, allowing Ayew to nip in ahead of Nuno Tavares and finish calmly into the bottom corner.
Mateta had a powerful strike saved unconvincingly by Ramsale as Palace pounced on yet another Arsenal error, with Thomas Partey giving the ball away on a number of occasions in a torrid first-half.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced at the break in place of Tavares, as Granit Xhaka shifted out to left-back.
Palace had a good chance to extend their lead even further when Partey was shown a yellow card for a foul right on the edge of the box, though Andersen’s free-kick was comfortable enough for Ramsdale.
Emile Smith Rowe should have halved the deficit just after the hour mark, when the ball fell invitingly to him in the box, but he sent a tame effort straight at Vicente Guaita.
A couple of minutes later the Gunners wasted another huge chance, when Martin Odegaard scuffed his shot wide when completely free in the box.
To cap off a painful night Partey picked up an injury, with his final act seeing Zaha charge past him and into the box. The Palace man chopped back inside and was clipped by Odegaard, and the referee eventually pointed to the spot. Zaha dusted himself off and sent Ramsdale the wrong way with the penalty to score Palace’s third.
Smith Rowe was denied by a goalline clearance from Marc Guehi before Eddie Nketiah rattled the bar from distance, as Arsenal failed to earn even the slightest of consolations on what could prove to be an incredibly costly night.
