Kepa the hero as Arsenal survive Palace scare to reach Carabao Cup semi-finals

Kepa Arrizabalaga was the unlikely saviour at the Emirates as Arsenal scraped past Crystal Palace on penalties to book their place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals after a night of late drama. The Gunners thought they had it won through a scrappy late own goal, only to be dragged into a shoot-out before Kepa had the final say.

Arsenal dominated the opening half and should have been out of sight long before the break. Gabriel Martinelli ran Palace ragged down the left, pulling the strings and carving out chances for Gabriel Jesus, Noni Madueke and Jurrien Timber. None of them could finish, though, with Eagles keeper Walter Benitez in the mood, pulling off save after save to keep the scores level.

Palace came out a different side after the interval. Oliver Glasner rang the changes and suddenly Arsenal looked rattled. Adam Wharton was given far too much room on the edge of the box and should really have scored, while the hosts struggled to regain any rhythm they had earlier.

Mikel Arteta responded by throwing on Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard, clearly unhappy on the touchline. Palace was dealt a blow when Chris Richards was stretchered off with a nasty looking foot injury, but the visitors still fancied their chances as the game wore on.

The breakthrough finally came on 83 minutes, though it wasn’t pretty. Saka’s corner was nodded goalwards by Riccardo Calafiori and the ball deflected off Maxence Lacroix and into his own net. Arsenal thought that was that. It wasn’t. Deep into stoppage time, Marc Guehi reacted quickest to a Jefferson Lerma header and poked home from close range to silence the Emirates.

Penalties followed and it was one of the better shoot-outs you’ll see. Odegaard, Rice, Saka, Trossard and Merino all kept their nerve as it went to sudden death. Then Kepa guessed right, diving low to deny Lacroix and send Arsenal through 8-7.

It sets up a semi-final showdown with Chelsea and keeps Arteta’s side dreaming of silverware, even if the performance again raised questions. For Palace, it was cruel. For Arsenal, messy but job done. And for Kepa, a rare night in the spotlight that he won’t forget in a hurry.