Cheick Doucouré was the next Palace midfielder to try his luck from range, but his instinctive – albeit powerful – pivoting and striking still strayed away from goal.

A quick start turned into a more consistent pace as the first half wore on, but there was an occasional reminder of Arsenal’s attacking quality, with Eddie Nketiah escaping the attentions of the back line. from Palace to push – down the home stretch and under pressure from a recovering Joachim Andersen – against the base of the post.

The back-and-forth continued, with Jordan Ayew’s persistence in front of him seeing him cut the ball off and nearly slip away – only to be denied on the slide by William Saliba – before Nketiah, played by Declan Rice, launched an effort at the top of the ball. Sam Johnstone’s net.

Palace largely deserved parity at the halfway mark, but Arsenal came out of the tunnel with a noticeable increase in intensity, winning a string of set pieces.

It was on a deep free kick that they forced their breakthrough, thanks to a quick reflection from Saka passing Nketiah. His feet clipped by Johnstone covering him, Ødegaard rose to convert the following penalty – awarded following a VAR review.

It didn’t take long for the Eagles to react, a brisk play around the visitors’ box ending with Ayew launching an upward strike into the side netting from a tight angle.

After making the breakthrough, Arsenal increased the pressure on Palace’s goalmouth, calling on Johnstone to be in good shape with his claims and high punches – Kai Havertz coming closest with an ambitious diving volley.

But the momentum quickly reversed midway through the second half when two ill-advised decisions – the first for wasting time following a throw-in, the second for holding Ayew – saw the visitors down to ten with a quarter goal. the remaining game.

Unfortunately, despite waves of pressure, shooting opportunities proved to be rare, although Ebere Eze had good reason to claim a penalty after dancing between Declan Rice and Thomas Partey. This time, however, VAR denied the call.

Their clearest chance came to Odsonne Edouard but the Frenchman, twisting his body to respond to Tyrick Mitchell’s hard-hitting flat cross, couldn’t adjust quickly enough to guide his header on target.

There was still time for a thrown ball – via the heads of late substitute Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Doucouré – to fall softly for Mitchell to strike but, amid a sea of ​​bodies, his shot went across the bar as Arsenal saw the waves of pressure.

Palace: Johnstone (GK), Ward (Rak-Sakyi, 83), Andersen, Guéhi, Mitchell, Doucouré, Lerma, Ayew, Eze, Schlupp (Ahamada, 74), Edouard

Submarines: Matthews (GK), Clyne, Tomkins, Richards, Riedewald, Gordon

Arsenal: Ramsdale (GK), Partey, White, Saliba, Tomiyasu, Rice, Havertz (Gabriel, 70), Ødegaard (Kiwior, 90), Saka (Zinchenko, 90) Martinelli, Nketiah (Jorginho, 78)

Submarines: Raya (GK), Smith Rowe, Nelson, Vieira, Trossard

As it happened