Arsenal to face Chelsea in Carabao Cup semi-final after beating Crystal Palace in dramatic shootout
INTO THE LAST FOUR: Arsenal players celebrate. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
Maxence Lacroix deserves a break this Christmas after a nightmare night here. The French defender scored an own goal and had a penalty shootout kick saved to hand Arsenal a dramatic quarter-final victory. Fifteen perfect penalties were taken before Lacroix stepped up and had his kick saved by Arsenal keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Mikel Arteta’s side now have nine matches in January, including the away leg of their semi-final with fellow London rivals Chelsea. What a match, what a New Year in prospect for Arsenal.
It comes at the expense of Palace heartache as their players celebrated on the pitch to the tune of the darts anthem Chase the Sun, most regularly heard during the World Championships at nearby Alexandra Palace.
Never mind the arrows, or the sun on a freezing winter’s night, Arsenal are chasing four football trophies in 2026.
An 80th minute own goal looked to have secured Arsenal’s progress into a two-legged League Cup semi-final against Chelsea and ensure they would be challenging for four major trophies in the New Year.
Top of the Premier League and Champions League at Christmas, Mikel Arteta’s men would have been worthy winners inside the regular 90 minutes after Palace defender Maxence Lacroix was the unfortunate player to steer the ball into his own net from a corner.
Then Palace won a free-kick five minutes into time added on and their inspirational captain Marc Guehi steered the ball home to set up a penalty shootout. Man of the match, Palace keeper Walter Benitez, still had to save from Declan Rice in the last action of normal time to confirm the spot-kick drama.
Arsenal had all of the first half and could have had the match won by half time were it not for the excellent form of Palace’s ‘cup keeper’ Benitez.
The Argentina international first made a brilliant close range block from the ever tricky Noni Madueke as Arsenal threatened to make the most of their overwhelming dominance.
Then he pulled off an even better stop, diving low to his left, as he denied Gabriel Jesus a fine headed goal from a Gabriel Martinelli cross.
Brazil forward Jesus was one of eight changes Arteta made to his starting line-up from the weekend win at Everton.
The rare chance to lead the attack marked his 100th Arsenal appearance on the occasion of his first start in 345 days, following knee ligament surgery back in January. Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori and Martinelli also squandered good shooting chances before Benitez saved superbly once again from a Madueke shot.
It all seemed too much, at times, for Palace manager Oliver Glasner who angrily jumped up and down in his technical area in an attempt to get his midfield and defence more switched on to Arsenal’s attacking threat. Either that, or he was feeling the cold like the rest of us and trying to get warm in this freezing festive fixture.
The south London side were hanging on and, although they were still a shot away from taking the lead themselves, it felt inevitable Arsenal would score first.
Glasner moved swiftly to try and nullify Arsenal’s right-wing dominance by withdrawing full-back Jaydee Canvot and former Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah, who was clearly not helping out his defence enough for the manager’s liking.
Martinelli, Arsenal’s standout player from the first half, was limping from a knock sustained at the end of the first period and that also aided Palace’s cause.
Leandro Trossard came on to replace him 14 minutes after the break, in a spell of the match that Glasner had demanded his players try to play more in Arsenal’s half rather than sit back and risk further relentless waves of attacks to defend.
Arteta made his move to shift the balance back to his side’s favour with just over 20 minutes to go when he sent on Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Moments later the Norway midfielder stuck a cross on the head of Jesus, only for the striker to head narrowly wide this time. Palace’s Chris Richards suffered an injury trying to defend that effort and was carried off on a stretcher before play could resume.
Benitez made another spectacular save as the prospect of a penalty shootout loomed at the end of 90 minutes.
Unfortunately, for Palace and Benitez, they were not strong enough to defend Saka’s ensuing corner as Lacroix accidentally nudged the ball into his own net under pressure from a posse of big Arsenal defenders.
Declan Rice came off the bench to help consolidate the lead against a Palace side that, understandably, looked utterly dejected.
Then came the late, late drama as Guehi finished from a Will Hughes free-kick.
ARSENAL: Arrizabalaga 6, Timber 6, Saliba 6, Calafiori 7, Lewis-Skelly 6, Norgaard 6, Merino 6, Eze 6 (Odegaard 67), Madueke 7 (Saka 67), Martinelli 7 (Trossard 59), Jesus 6 (Rice 86).
CRYSTAL PALACE: Benitez 9, Canvot 5 (Clyne 46), Richards 6 (Hughes 76), Lacroix 6, Guehi 6, Mitchell 5 (Sosa 101), Wharton 7, Lerma 6, Pino 6 (Uche 86), Nketiah 6 (Devenny 46), Mateta.
Referee: Stuart Attwell 6.
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