It was two crews without much to play for that met tonight in south London at Selhurst Park. The home team from Crystal Palace had long ago secured their existence in the Premier League, and not near the European places. The visitors from Arsenal have had a disappointing season under Mikel Arteta, where they have long been far away from the top 4 places. The possibility of ending up over Tottenham in the table was still possible with two games left, and therefore there should be some kind of motivation to be found at "The Gunners" tonight. Especially after Tottenham lost 1-2 to Aston Villa tonight. A win for Arsenal would therefore put them with 58 points before the last round, where Tottenham would stand with 59 points.
It should also just be mentioned that tonight was 73-year-old Roy Hodgson's very last home game in a professional football match, as he has recently announced that he will stop his career as a manager after this season.
There was a slap in the face in the first half and both teams had chances, but in the 35th minute Arsenal just picked up the pace. A fantastic play between Bukayo Saka and Kieran Tierney ended with a ball right at the feet of Nicolas Pepe that could make it 1-0 for the visitors. Really nice goal from Arteta's troops.
The goal from the Ivorian thus became the only sea game, and therefore Arsenal could go to the break with a 1-0 lead.
The second half was without the big chances, but in the 62nd minute we got the second goal of the match, and this time it was the home team that came on the board, when Christian Benteke first came on a cross from Andros Townsend, and stabbed the ball in behind Bernd Leno. 1-1.
Arsenal tried with some offensive substitutions at the end of the match, and two of them combined when Arsenal in the overtime brought themselves in front again. Martin Ødegaard came close to putting the visiting team one up 90 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but Gabriel Martinelli managed to tip the ball to a corner.
We actually got another goal in the last action of the match, when Pepe came on the board for the second time tonight.
It therefore ended 3-1 to Arsenal, who have now seriously put pressure on Tottenham before the last round, where Arsenal with a win at home over Brighton, will end up over Tottenham if they do not beat Leicester on the road.
It was therefore a defeat for Roy Hodgson in his last home game as manager of the Premier League.
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