Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty Images
Arsenal kept champagne winning the title of the Premier League of Liverpool on the ice, but only as they were held in a 2-2 draw at home by Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
The goals of the first half of Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard seemed to be sufficient for a dull arsenal against one side of the animated palace which equalized with an Ebechi Eze volley.
But there was a late touch while the Palace substitute, Jean-Philippe Mateta, produced a superb finish chipped on the Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya in the 83rd minute.
The draw left Arsenal, second place, on 67 points of 34 games with Liverpool out of 79 out of 33.
If Arsenal had lost, Liverpool would have won the title on Wednesday, but they can now seal it with a point against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Arsenal and Palace both have huge cup semi-final games-Arsenal in the Champions League at home against Paris Saint-Germain next Tuesday and Palace this Saturday against Aston Villa in FA Cup.
The twelfth placed palace could have been apologized if they were distracted by what will be the biggest match of their season.
Instead, it was Arsenal who was out of pace when they drew for the 13th time in the League this season and the fifth time in eight – a statistics that allowed Liverpool to mathematically conclude a 20th record English title.
Palace, who left the key players Mateta and Ismaïla Sarr on the bench but who has always aligned Eze, will have taken a big heart from their exhibition while they are preparing for villa on Saturday.
Eze brilliantly took its goal, connecting with the corner of Adam Wharton to bounce a volley in the post after Raya.
But the best was saved to last while Mateta, still wearing the protective blanket of his poorly cut ear during the tie of the fifth round against Millwall, put a sensational blow on Raya after a bad ball of William Saliba put the captain of Arsenal Martin Ødegaard in difficulty.
