Aubameyang sees red as Palace make it four unbeaten

Ayew

Ayew celebrating his goal against Arsenal.

Red card Aubameyang.jpg

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Saturday became the third Arsenal player to score and be sent off in the same Premier League match and the first since Mikel Arteta vs Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in October 2013.

Aubameyang gave Arsenal the lead with just twelve minutes away from kickoff at the Selhurst Park and was sent off in the 67th minute after a reckless challenge on Max Meyer.

Ayew celebrating his goal against Arsenal.

However, Jordan Ayew became the hero again for Roy Hodgson’s Palace with the striker cancelling out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opener, as the Eagles and the Gunners played out a 1-1 draw and made it four unbeaten runs against Arsenal.

When Alexandre Lacazette slipped in Aubameyang to open the scoring on 12 minutes, it was a goal that had been coming for the visitors with the opening spell of the lunchtime kick-off seeing Arsenal dominate possession.

Nicolas Pépé had a couple of half-chance openings which could’ve resulted in worse for the Eagles if it weren’t for an overhit cross and poor control. However, despite those potential opportunities for Arsenal’s right-winger Jaïro Riedewald was dealing with the threat of Pépé well and kept the winger quiet for the majority of the first half.

Palace fans’ hopes piqued just before the half-hour mark, though, when Cheikhou Kouyaté intercepted an attempted long ball from David Luiz which set Ayew away with Kouyaté on a two-v-two against Luiz and Sokratis.

Arsenal retreated quickly and despite intricate passing between Ayew, Max Meyer and Wilfried Zaha, Palace couldn’t quite find the opening to test Bernd Leno.

That moment from the Eagles turned the tide of the game with Roy Hodgson’s side growing into the game and captialising on several error-laden passes from Arsenal’s backline to maintain spells of pressure.

Five minutes before half-time saw Palace’s best chance of the game arrive after Kouyaté pulled off a precise nutmeg in the Arsenal box to create the chance for himself but Leno parried his effort away.

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The second-half saw make an Arsenal tactical switch with Matteo Guendouzi replacing Lucas Torreria. However, it didn’t have the desired effect for Mikel Arteta’s side with Palace drawing level nine minutes after the break.

A quickly-taken free-kick from Palace released Meyer down the right-hand side, with the midfielder’s cross finding Ayew who fired home his sixth goal of the season thanks to a deflection off David Luiz.

Palace were dominating the game after the equaliser and they soon also had a man advantage.

Arsenal’s captain Aubameyang was originally issued a yellow card for a late challenge on Max Meyer. However, VAR intervened and referee Paul Tierney took the advice of the Video Assistant Referee and unweighted the colour of Aubameyang’s card to red.

In amongst the VAR furore, Meyer was unable to continue after the Arsenal striker’s challenge and Hodgson introduced Tosun for his Palace bow.

Palace were looking to make their one-man advantage work and the Eagles were the width of Sokratis’ foot from taking the lead via a Tomkins header, after the centre-back connected well with a well-worked delivery from Zaha.

However, Arsenal’s centre-back hooked off the line at the proverbial ‘11th hour’ moment to keep the game level.

A huge warning sign arrived for Palace that Arsenal weren’t out of the game despite the man deficit. However, it was a warning sign that Vicente Guaita saw coming with the ‘keeper pulling off a sensational double save.

Firstly, Nicolas Pépé’s precise curled effort was, somehow, tipped onto the post by Palace’s No.31. But without a moment to enjoy his remarkable save, Guaita was out to thwart Lacazette tapping home from inside the six-yard box.

That proved to be the last big moment of the London derby at Selhurst Park with Palace now extending their unbeaten run against Arsenal to four games.

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