The schadenfreude song of the moment started up from the corner of Crystal Palace fans fairly early on during this strange interlude of a match — with big cup games looming for both clubs.
“Second again, ole ole,” they crooned.
This song is a weird phenomenon. It has been directed at Arsenal for a while now. Leicester City (relegated) had the nerve to sing it, even though second would be a fanciful dream from their position. Ipswich Town (almost relegated) sang it, too. Now, here were Palace, in the bottom half of the table and with an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Saturday, airing their obvious pleasure at Arsenal not winning the title. Again.
They are being teased by clubs who have their own issues and are not obvious or historic rivals. Maybe there is some deeper antipathy at work, but more likely it is just part of the football craic, where anyone is fair game in whatever kind of one-upmanship is possible at any given moment. The thrill of mockery at anyone else’s expense means it is not coming at you, so fill your boots while you can.
The moment when William Saliba and Martin Odegaard got themselves tangled up in a dangerous game of keep-ball across the back, allowing Jean-Philippe Mateta to arc a stunning goal into the Clock End net, was a perfect illustration of this “second again”-ism.
It was a symbolic epitaph to a league challenge that felt like Arsenal were too often a moment away from tripping themselves up or being ambushed by unexpected punishment of some sort. The curse of the draw has deprived them of too many points. This was Arsenal’s 13th in the league, and in nine of them they were in front and pegged back. This one finished 2-2 after Eberechi Eze and Mateta cancelled out goals from Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard.
“Well, we haven’t been able to see the games off for many reasons, and the margins have been too small,” Mikel Arteta lamented afterwards. “Sometimes that’s when I give credit to the opposition. It’s true that we played five times with 10 men. There are a lot of factors. We have to be able to see the game off. We weren’t at our best.”
In the eventual analysis of the season, identifying the details that can help to prevent concessions from winning positions is an obvious priority.
It was a bit of an unserious performance from Arsenal. Understandable, perhaps, given that games against Ipswich and Palace were the relatively bland fillers between their Champions League crescendos against Real Madrid (quarter-final) and Paris Saint-Germain (semi-final). It didn’t help that they have been very short of numbers and multiple players were unable to train ahead of the Palace match.
The complete absence of Mikel Merino and Ben White was a worry, and Arteta gave no reassurance that they would be fit for the Champions League semi-final first leg next week. “We’ll have to wait and see,” he said, before reiterating that any clues about his line-up and strategy, particularly in terms of covering for the suspended Thomas Partey, were on ice until he knows who is fit.
There was no surprise that the European assignment had an impression on events. It feels monumental. The sense of possibility is tantalising. Arsenal have six days to reset, refresh and prepare. They don’t need to do any major analysis on this meandering match against Palace. It was sloppy, disjointed, and lacking in intensity so the best thing is to never think of it again.
Pushing on in the league to ensure safe re-qualification for Europe’s top table, while they have one eye wide open with necessary laser focus on the Champions League, is an intriguing position for Arteta to manage over these key weeks ahead. He will have noticed that Manchester City have snuck into third, and Arsenal still have some tricky Premier League matches to navigate with Liverpool and Newcastle, plus a Bournemouth match sandwiched between the two semi-finals and probably requiring rotation, serving up challenges.
“We’re going to have to be really good in both competitions to end the right way we want to end up,” added Arteta.
This might not have been his perfect season, but he has been able to inspire some epic performances in response to games or situations that have been disappointing. Both victories over Madrid followed underwhelming Premier League draws. Another flat tie preceded their 7-1 exhibition in Eindhoven against PSV.
So, who knows what is in store for Arsenal next time out against PSG.
(Top photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
