Mikel Arteta tears into ‘inconsistent’ Arsenal as title dream in tatters

Mikel Arteta did not hide his disdain for Arsenal's limp performance in a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

The Gunners twice took the lead before Jean-Philippe Mateta emerged off the bench to chip an audacious equaliser over David Raya in the 83rd minute. A draw ensured that Arsenal can only match Liverpool's current tally of 79 points, giving the Reds the chance to mathematically seal the Premier League title by avoiding defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

"I'm disappointed with the result and the performance," Arteta sighed after watching his side rack up their 13th league draw of the campaign. "We never got the consistency in many areas to completely dominate the game.

"When you're not at your best but you are two times ahead, you have to be able to see the game off and we weren't able to do it, especially with the second goal. We haven't been able to see games off for many reasons, and the margins have been too small."

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner was rightly enthused by his side's performance. The Eagles not only frustrated their hosts with an organised block, but out-shot the Gunners 15 to 12. "I watched many Arsenal games and can't remember a team with as many clear chances as we had," the Austrian coach gushed. Only Manchester City have registered more shots on target in a Premier League game against Arsenal this season.

Arteta named a strong starting XI, notably resting only Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino, yet he was questioned whether some of the squad was distracted by next week's Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. "Hopefully not," he bluntly replied.

"I don't want to use that. Obviously, we have missed a lot of players, a lot of players weren't available, so we've been very short. But as well, credit to Palace, they are very well organised, they are a really good side and they made it difficult for us and the reality as well that today we weren't at our best."

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