If a single game could summarise the imbalances in the Arsenal squad, the unavoidable contrast between their attacking brilliance and their defensive ineptitude, then this was it. At one end, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two goals of Champions League quality. At the other, Carl Jenkinson and Shkodran Mustafi, in particular, committed the sort of errors you would be shocked to see in the second tier.
Such was the calamity at the back for Arsenal that the moments of class in attack meant nothing in the end. This turned out to be the most gruelling of defeats, a setback that was entirely avoidable against a side that was entirely beatable.
It was hard to believe, as Mustafi ushered Wilfried Zaha through to score the second for Palace, that Unai Emery’s had won their last 10 home matches in the Premier League. It was equally hard to believe that they had seemingly put their defensive woes behind them, conceding only one goal in their previous seven games.
It felt like a regression for Arsenal after weeks of progression. They allowed Christian Benteke and James McArthur to score either side of Zaha’s goal, and then pushed in vain as they tried to rescue a mess of their own making.
They could not do so, despite late pressure, and on the weekend that Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur both lost, Emery’s side totally failed to capitalise on their advantage in the race for the top four.
It made for a professional, memorable win for Roy Hodgson’s side, who jumped up to 12th. They were largely solid at the back and always threatening in attack, where Zaha was as much of a nuisance as ever on the weekend he made it clear that he wanted to be playing at the very highest level.
Despite their wonderful home form, there was always a reason for Arsenal to be nervy about this one. Thursday’s victory over Napoli had sapped the energy from his players’ legs, while injuries to midfielders Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey had left the Arsenal head coach with a central pairing of Matteo Guendouzi and Mohamed Elneny.
There is energy and determination in that midfield, but not enough to compensate for the complete lack of creativity or invention. This was obvious in the early stages, when Arsenal struggled horribly to work the ball forward to their big hitters in attack.
There were plenty of problems at the other end, too, where Jenkinson was given a rare start at right wing-back. He was promptly at fault for the Palace goal, playing Benteke offside as Luka Milivojevic swung in a free-kick from deep. The finger of blame should also be pointed at Mustafi, who simply ambled back with his arm in the air rather than making any attempt to challenge the Palace forward.
Arsenal struggled horribly for much of the first half and the unfortunate truth is that they were lucky to only be trailing by one goal at the break. They needed a remarkable double-stop from Leno to prevent Cheikhou Kouyate from doubling the Palace lead after a sharp counter-attack down the right.
At this point it became clear that something needed to change for Arsenal, whose only moment of genuine promise in the first-half came when they were denied a penalty for a clear handball by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Jenkinson made way at the break, as did centre-back Dinos Mavropanos. On came Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
