On their last visit to North London, Eberechi Eze - now an Arsenal player, of course - was on the scoresheet in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Arsenal were heavy pre-match favourites
Oliver Glasner's side began this fixture in eighth place after a creditable 3-3 draw against Bournemouth last time out, a match in which star striker, Jean-Philippe Mateta, missed a sitter in stoppage time.
The Gunners were sat proudly at the summit of the English top flight, though Mikel Arteta's side still had Man City and others breathing down their necks.
Though Arsenal were heavy pre-match favourites being unbeaten at home so far in 2025/26 (three wins, one draw), they'd fallen foul of that tag in matches during 2024/25, beaten by sides they'd normally expect to emerge victorious against, which, ultimately, denied them a first Premier League title since 2003/04.
Both teams were unchanged from their previous games, with it being the first time Arteta had managed to do so since September 2024.
In the previous 10 matches where the Spaniard had named the same XI in consecutive matches, the Gunners had won nine and drawn once.
Gunners dominant, but Gyokeres anonymous
As might've been expected, the hosts dominated possession in the opening exchanges with an incredible 83.9% of the ball in the opening quarter hour and a collective 92% pass completion.
Despite this, there was little in the way of goalmouth action, and Viktor Gyokeres had only managed to touch the ball once.
In fact, were any team likely to score in that period, Palace appeared the more likely with both Marc Guehi and Ismaila Sarr seeing shots blocked, and Adam Wharton firing wide.
To give even more perspective on Arsenal's inability to get anywhere close to scoring, since Palace returned to the Premier League in 2013, it's the first time that the North Londoners had failed to have a shot in the first 30 minutes of a league game against them.
Leandro Trossard finally managed to do so in the 33rd minute of the match, Arsenal's longest wait for an attempt on goal in a Premier League game since April 2021 against Liverpool (also in the 33rd minute).
Eze fires home against his old club
Just six minutes later, the hosts' second shot arrived, this time resulting in the first goal of the game.
In one of those strange quirks of footballing fate, Eze fired home against his old club with his first for his new employers and, as has become customary amongst players, refused to wildly celebrate.
Given that Arsenal had a record of winning all five games when having taken the lead in 25/26, the game needed a significant response from Palace if the Eagles wanted to get at least a point to take back south of the river.
However, not since October 2022 (against Wolves) had Palace come back to win in a game that they were trailing at half-time.
Guehi and William Saliba had been the busiest players for their sides in the opening half, perhaps going some way to understanding why there'd been so little genuine goalmouth action in the first 45.
With a collective xG of just 0.20, it had been the lowest in the first half of any Premier League match so far this season.
Another first-half clean sheet for the Gunners
On the positive side, Arsenal had kept another first-half clean sheet - their seventh in nine league games - the best record of any club in the division.
Within five minutes of the restart, Gabriel's attempt against the woodwork, along with efforts from Trossard, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, hinted at a much more front-footed approach from the Gunners.
Six of Arsenal's eight shots by the hour mark had come from set pieces, something that the North Londoners are using as a fearsome weapon against opponents these days.
Glasner had seen enough and sent on former Gunner, Eddie Nketiah, in the hope of getting back into the game. A 103rd substitute appearance since 2017/18 won't necessarily be a stat the striker will be proud of, mind.
He did manage Palace's second shot on target 10 minutes after coming on, but that's as good as it got for Nketiah personally and for his team.
Mateta's stats show Palace weren't at it
In the end, a workmanlike win for Arsenal meant they'd kept a clean sheet in each of their last three league games, with their last longer run without conceding coming during December 2020 and January 2021 (four matches).
David Raya's 50th clean sheet for the Gunners was also something of a milestone moment for the Spaniard personally.
On the day, Palace will know they were beaten by the better team despite the scoreline suggesting a much closer contest than the reality, and Mateta's solitary touch in the Arsenal box over the 90+ minutes is a good enough indicator that the Eagles just weren't at it.
Having attempted more tackles (16 to 12), winning more of them (nine to seven) and having made more interceptions than Arsenal (12 to six), the stats suggest a dogged attempt by Palace to win the game, but that will be of little comfort to Glasner and his squad.
With results elsewhere going the North Londoners' way too, Arteta will consider Sunday's performance as a job well done.
