Luka Milivojevic achieved redemption by scoring a brace of penalties as Crystal Palace ended Arsenal's winning run with a deserved draw at Selhurst Park.
Arsenal had looked on course to record a 12th consecutive win in all competitions after a superb Granit Xhaka free-kick and a controversial Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang strike had cancelled out Milivojevic's penalty on the stroke of half-time.
But the Palace captain, who missed from 12 yards in the defeat at Everton last weekend, made no mistake in securing a 2-2 draw when referee Martin Atkinson awarded the hosts a second penalty of the afternoon.
The goals were the first scored at home in the league by the Eagles this season and earned them a share of the spoils against an in-form Arsenal side who had again started the game slowly.
James Olley assesses the key talking points at Selhurst Park...
Arsenal winning run comes to an end
Start slowly, finish strongly: this was becoming the template for Unai Emery’s Arsenal. They were’t quite able to pull off the trick here, however, being held to a 2-2 draw which ends their remarkable winning sequence at 11 games.
In recent weeks they have not been fully punished for starting slowly but Luka Milivojevic’s first-half penalty gave Crystal Palace a lead they deserved on balance.
The Gunners needed to improve and they duly did so with Granit Xhaka’s stunning 51st minute free-kick quickly restoring parity.
There was an element of fortune to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 56th minute goal as it appeared Alexandre Lacazette handled the ball as it would its way to the back post but just as the Gunners threatened victory, Milivojevic struck again.
Palace finally break their duck
Palace would have equalled the top-flight record of five consecutive home matches without scoring had they failed to find the net here and it appeared their frustration was set to continue in the opening 45 minutes.
Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha went close – the latter hitting the post – before Shkodran Mustafi’s clumsy tackle on Cheikhou Kouyate gave Milivojevic a chance from 12 yards in first-half stoppage time.
The Serbian international missed a penalty in last weekend’s defeat to Everton but made no mistake this time.
The relief around Selhurst Park was palpable. Milivojevic repeated the trick when Xhaka fouled Zaha seven minutes from time for only their second home point of the campaign.
The ever-changing fortunes of Ozil
It is less than a week since Mesut Ozil produced a sublime performance against Leicester City, prompting widespread praise hailing his world-class talent and justification of his £350,000-a-week salary.
Six days later – after sitting out the match at Sporting Lisbon despite making the trip to Portugal – the 29-year-old endured one of his quieter afternoons and was substituted with 22 minutes left.
Ozil threw his gloves to the ground in a show of dissent which Emery will not welcome and the two contrasting displays only underline why he is such a polarising figure for so many players.
Leno is Arsenal’s No1
Petr Cech has been fit for Arsenal’s last two matches and started neither. The 36-year-old declared himself available for the trip to Sporting Lisbon following a hamstring injury but was left back in London, it initially appeared with a view to playing at Selhurst Park.
However, Leno retained his place and therefore now appears to be Emery’s preferred option. Wednesday’s EFL Cup clash with Blackpool affords another chance for rotation but with Liverpool visiting Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening, Cech now faces an uphill struggle to earn a recall despite starting their first seven League games of the season.
