Arsenal had goalscorer and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sent off by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Arsenal took a 12th-minute lead when Aubameyang finished off a fine 18-pass move with his 16th goal of the season in all competitions.
However, the home team hit back nine minutes after half-time through Jordan Ayew’s deflected effort, before Arsenal were reduced to ten men when the VAR intervened to send off Aubameyang for a dangerous tackle midway through the second half.
The visitors took no time hitting their stride as Palace unwisely opted to stand off their London rivals in the early stages, with Arsenal opening the scoring with an exquisite goal.
Read Also: Aribo In Action, Ojo On Target In Rangers’ Friendly Win
The move began with David Luiz firing the ball into the path of Mesut Ozil, who in turn fed Alexandre Lacazette just outside the area. The Frenchman then picked out his strike partner in the box, with Aubameyang making no mistake from 10 yards for his 11th goal in his last 17 London derbies.
The match turned on its head after half-time, though, as Palace woke from their first-half slumber and, roared on by the home faithful, drew level after 54 minutes with a fortuitous strike.
The hosts played James McCarthy in down the right and after failing to clear the Irishman’s low centre, the ball fell to Ayew and the striker’s shot somehow looped into the net with the aid of a deflection off Luiz’s outstretched leg.
Things then from bad to worse for the visitors when Aubameyang saw red for a dangerous studs-up tackle on Max Meyer on the touchline, but only after the VAR decided to upgrade Paul Tierney’s original yellow card.
Both teams had chances to win it in a breathtaking final quarter, but first Sokratis was on hand to acrobatically clear James Tomkins’s header off the line, and then Vicente Guaita did brilliantly to turn Nicolas Pepe’s low drive on to the post, before reacting impressively to smother the rebound from Lacazette.
