LONDON — There were fears Arsenal’s season was over when Gabriel Magalhães was ruled out for the rest of the campaign at the beginning of April.
After all, the Gunners had been here before. Two years ago, Gabriel’s center-back partner William Saliba sustained a knee injury at a similar point, which precipitated Arsenal’s exit from Europe and collapse of their Premier League hopes as Manchester City won the 2022-23 title.
Jakub Kiwior joined midway through that season from Spezia in a £20 million deal, and as someone new to the league, he was not entrusted with the responsibility of replacing Saliba.
Instead, Rob Holding partnered with Gabriel at the back as Arsenal faltered, winning just five of their final 11 games in a hugely disappointing end to the campaign.
This time, Kiwior has the opportunity to prove a capable deputy, and Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace raised as many questions as answers. Holding, incidentally, cannot even get into the Palace team these days and finds himself on loan at EFL Championship side Sheffield United.
First, the good news. Kiwior did his best to emulate Gabriel’s potent goal threat, climbing highest to power a third-minute header past Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson from Martin Ødegaard’s free kick.
It was his first league goal of the season and only the fourth of an Arsenal career in which he has had to demonstrate considerable patience watching on from the sidelines as Saliba and Gabriel formed one of the best center-back pairings in the world.
“Even when I was sitting on the bench, I could feel the help from the coach that he was always prepared for me,” said Kiwior in the matchday programme. “Especially now, when he needs me, I’m always 100% ready to help the team.”
He may be ready, but is he good enough? Arsenal looked shaky at the back throughout this game, although there may have been several reasons for that, not least that both teams had an eye on their next match rather than this one, with the Gunners hosting Paris Saint-Germain back at Emirates Stadium in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League first leg of their semifinal tie. Palace face Aston Villa in Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal at Wembley.
Arsenal simply cannot defend like this against PSG.
“We dropped our standards and credit to Crystal Palace,” said Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
“We struggled to find consistency in the game. We gave the ball away in simple ways, and we were late in everything we did. I am disappointed.”
The visitors equalized on 27 minutes with a set-piece goal of high quality. Adam Wharton floated a corner to Eberechi Eze on the edge of the box, and the England international controlled a fine volley which flew in off David Raya’s left-hand post.
“We worked on it yesterday in training, but it didn’t go so well then,” said Palace boss Oliver Glasner.
Eddie Nketiah, formerly of the Gunners, caused problems throughout the first half without ever looking convincing in front of goal. He was denied by an excellent block from Kiwior just a few minutes after Eze’s intervention. Arteta is always quick to remind anyone of the substantial injury problems Arsenal have suffered this season, and in a similar manner to the responsibility Kiwior possesses in defence, Leandro Trossard likely now has in attack.
Season-ending injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus had made midfielder Mikel Merino an unlikely hero as a makeshift center-forward, but Thomas Partey’s suspension for the first leg against PSG will force a rethink.
Arteta has given nothing away, but the logical move would be to move Merino back into midfield and give Trossard the chance to lead the line, as he did at Ipswich Town last weekend and against Palace here.
Trossard’s 42nd-minute strike was deflected past Henderson, but also a reward for his clever movement inside the box to create the opening after good build-up play from Jurriën Timber. After his brace against Ipswich, Trossard has now scored in back-to-back games for the first time since November.
While Kiwior may be the unknown quantity in Arsenal’s backline, it was, in fact, the normally reliable Saliba who was guilty of gifting Palace a route back into the game seven minutes from time.
He dawdled in possession, allowing substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta the chance to beat Raya from 30 yards as he scrambled back towards goal. Mateta did so superbly, kissing the underside of the bar with his effort as it found the net.
Liverpool still need a point against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday to be crowned champions, but the title race has been over for some time, and so Saliba’s mistake did not matter. Neither did his error in the second leg of their quarterfinal tie against Real Madrid, when a slip of remarkable similarity allowed Vinícius Júnior to score and briefly threaten a revival.
However, it did condemn Arsenal to their 13th draw of the season. Only Everton (14) have recorded a higher number in the league, and in the Gunners’ case, they have surrendered a lead on nine of those 13 occasions. Those 16 dropped points look awfully damaging in the context of Liverpool’s 12-point lead.
“We haven’t been able to see the games off for many reasons, and the margins have been too small,” admitted Arteta.
“Sometimes that’s when I credit the opposition, it’s also true that we played five times with ten men. There are a lot of factors, but obviously it’s something that we’ve done much better in the past, especially when we’ve been ahead in games.”
PSG will likely be unforgiving opponents. More is needed when the Champions League resumes if Arsenal are not to lament their injuries as another season passes without the ending they crave.