by Mikel Areta admitted that Arsenal had to get his “energy” back for the Champions League showdown with Paris Saint-Germain after a lackluster 2-2 draw against Crystal Palaol Liverpool left on the sidelines of the Premier League win.
The Areta team hoped to warm up for their first semi -final appearance of the Champions League since 2009, with a victory over Palace in the Emirates stage on Wednesday.
But Jakub Kiwior’s header in the third minute for the Gunners was canceled by Eberechi Ezes Volley in the 27th minute.
Leandro Trossard’s strike put Arsenal in the foreground three minutes before half-time, only for the Jean-Philippe Mateta pallaster set, to exceed brilliant praise in the 83rd minute.
The second-placed Arsenal are 12 points from Liverpool, and with only four games for the North Londoners, the Arne Slot team will seal the title if you avoid a defeat against Tottenham on Sunday in Anfield.
Your title effectively hopes several weeks ago that Arsenal concentrated for the first time to win the Champions League.
But the sloppy display against Palace was hardly an ideal preparation for the showdown with the French champion PSG, which eliminated on the way to the last four Liverpool and Aston Villa.
“We are disappointed with the result and performance. We have not found enough consistency in actions to dominate the game,” said Areta.
“We should have done it better in many aspects. Palace was very organized and deserved credit, but we dropped our standards.
“We trouble finding consistency. We gave away the ball in a simple way and we came late in everything we did. We have to do much better.”
Among the concerns of Arteta is a violation of Mikel Merino, who published the Spaniard from the Palast game and could see him against PSG pages.
Merino is a midfielder of trade, but became an effective provisional striker after Arsenal Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were hit by injuries.
“We have to wait and see because they couldn’t be in the squad here,” said when they were asked whether Merino and defender Ben White were adapted to PSG.
It was Arsenal’s ninth league draw in a game that they led this season, most of the team in a single campaign since Tottenham in 2007/08.
– ‘The most important game of the season’ – –
Arsenals repeated failure to kill opponents has led 13 draw from 34 league games, which contributed to bringing Liverpool to a touching distance of a record title.
The Areta team is expected to end as a secondary Premier League second place for a third season in a row and hopes to end their five-year trophy village in an unforgettable style in the Champions League.
Areta insisted that they were not distracted by the chance to reach the final for the first time since 2006.
But he admitted that it would be useful that his injury squad had almost a week off before he faces the men of Luis Enrique.
“We talked about avoiding our focus elsewhere. We have enough time to prepare for PSG, but today we didn’t deliver enough to win the game,” he said.
“It’s nice to have a long gap, we need it and we need players in full strength again. We have so many players and not available and they therefore drop certain standards.
“We have the most important game of the season in six days. We have to get our energy back.”
With a FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Saturday, Palace could have been awarded that it is easy in North London.
Manager Oliver Glasner started with the most important strikers Mateta and Ismaila Sarr on the bench to keep them fresh for Wembley, but Palace gave a spirited display.
“It was not our goal to decide the title, it was our goal to win the game. A tie is a very good result. The performance is more important. We are on the track again,” said Glasner.
SMG/MW
