Wilfried Zaha left his mark on Arsenal yet again at the Emirates, showing Nicolas Pepe why he was the Gunners' first choice this summer.
Pepe and Arsenal got off to the better start with Zaha on the fringes of the game, but Crystal Palace's main man put them on the path to rescue a point.
Zaha was simply waiting for his moment and that came after losing a battle for the ball in front of the very vocal Emirates crowd.
Outmuscled on the touchline, the Arsenal fans booed him which prompted a Granit Xhaka-esque cup of the ear from Zaha in response; the 26-year-old's tone had changed instantly and he was ready to change the game.
He didn't go searching for the ball, but waited for the ball to find him. Staying disciplined and holding his width, within a minute Luka Milivojevic played the ball into his path.
Cushioning the pass effortlessly, he was now ready to take on a back-peddling Calum Chambers.
A defender at his mercy at The Emirates; this is what Arsenal fans had dreams and nightmares of over the past six months.
In true Zaha fashion, with great skill he zipped the ball past Chambers and was brought down. Arsenal fans cheered when Martin Atkinson booked him for simulation but those cheers soon turned to boos.
Long gone are the days when a quick winger being brought down could go unnoticed. With VAR on his side, the decision was overturned, Zaha had won their penalty and Milivojevic stuck it away.
Even though the Crystal Palace icon had just swung the momentum of the game, Pepe did not want to be upstaged by his Ivory Coast team-mate.
Initiating and winning an intense tussle for a loose ball with Zaha on the touchline, Pepe got those in the West Stand on their feet but his pride eventually allowed his countryman to have the more influential display.
Also on the outskirts of the game, rather than holding his width like Zaha, he drifted inside to get more involved with play.
Pepe did eventually get into the box but entering through the centre of the pitch, he was surrounded by Palace defenders who pressured him into firing wide.
So although he was getting onto the ball, Pepe's inexperience showed.
Such special talents can become preoccupied with trying to showcase their skills but over the years, Zaha has become more efficient when displaying his.
Essentially, he stayed out of the game for the Arsenal defence to forget he was there, and punished them when they did so.
Pepe has shown he can punish defenders in a similar way with his outrageous nutmeg on Ben Mee against Burnley, leaving Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson for dust at Anfield and free kicks against Vitoria.
But not signing Zaha in the summer meant even though Arsenal were able to sign someone of a similar technical ability, they were left without someone who has cracked the code of influencing games in the Premier League.
Winning the penalty, driving Palace forward in the second-half, almost scoring the winner in the dying moments and being rugby-tackled to the ground, Zaha has mastered this.
Almost invisible for large stretches of the game, the experience and positional discipline he has developed is what unlocks his unique abilities and is what Arsenal are currently missing in Nicolas Pepe.
