Conor Gallagher said the whole Crystal Palace dressing room were “gutted” on Monday night after Alexandre Lacazette scored a last-gasp equaliser to deny the Eagles three points at the Emirates.
Conor Gallagher said: “It’s horrible, honestly, it’s so horrible. To come back from 1-0 down at Arsenal at their place is great isn’t it? The boys showed great character and in the second half, we were brilliant. Then to hold out until the last 30 seconds is just horrible. We’re all gutted. It feels worse than a defeat – if that’s even possible. Nothing’s worse than thinking you’ve got three points and to have it taken away from you. We need to learn from, we need to cut out the little mistakes, and it’s costing us points so far this season.”
Despite the late heartbreak, Gallagher did take some comfort from the way in which his side performed at the Emirates. For long periods it was the visitors who were on top in the game, something which the midfielder says his team deserve credit for.
Conor Gallagher said: “The boys were brilliant. You can’t take the performance away from us. Everyone is gutted, it feels like a loss but the whole team were class. There are a lot of positives to take from it but it doesn’t mean much when you don’t have the three points. Hopefully we can start turning these draws into wins. You’ve got to take it on the chin and move on.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had opened the scoring for the Gunners after just eight minutes, but an energetic response from Palace eventually allowed them to draw level and then take the lead in the second half through Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard. However, Lacazette’s late strike deep into injury time spoiled the joyous atmosphere going on in the away end, as the Frenchman sent the Emirates into a frenzy with his late leveller. Patrick Vieira, returning to his former club for the first time as a manager, sunk to his knees on the touchline following the goal, while Gallagher struggled to put into words how upset he and the team were with the full-time result.
