Dramatic, Eliminate Palace Through Penalty Shootout, Arsenal to the English League Cup Semi-finals

Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga as he denied Maxence Lacroix's penalty in the shootout against Crystal Palace in the English League Cup. (arsenal.com)

JAKARTA - Arsenal dramatically qualified for the English League Cup semi-finals after eliminating Crystal Palace. In the London Derby in the quarter-finals at the Emirates Stadium, Wednesday, December 24, 2025 WIB, Arsenal won 8-7 (1-1) via a penalty shootout to meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.

Reserve goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga finally became the star of Arsenal's victory. After failing on seven penalty kicks, Kepa successfully thwarted the eighth execution by defender Maxence Lacroix.

The success of the former Spanish national team goalkeeper ended the penalty shootout drama and brought Arsenal to the semi-finals. In the four-legged match, Arsenal again met fellow London team Chelsea who eliminated Cardiff City.

If Kepa appeared as the star who determined the victory, on the other hand, Lacroix was unlucky. He not only made a suicide goal in the match. The French center back also failed to finish the penalty execution which made Palace eliminated.

The match itself was tight. Palace gave a fierce resistance and balanced Arsenal's game. This made the Gunners have difficulty and had to work hard to dismantle Palace's defense.

In the match between fellow English Premier League teams, Arsenal did not appear with the best squad. However, manager Mikel Arteta still put down some of the pillar players such as midfielder Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli.

Striker Gabriel Jesus for the first time started after recovering from a long injury. Jesus replaced Vikto Gyokeres who did not play in the Carabao Cup.

Likewise, captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were on the bench. They only played in the second half after Arsenal had difficulties and their game did not fully develop in the first half.

Despite facing resistance from Oliver Glasner's team, Arsenal was still able to dominate. At least, they got the opportunity through Gabriel Jesus' header. But goalkeeper Walter Benitez, who replaced Dean Henderson, brilliantly thwarted his chances.

Benitez again showed impressive performance when he twice repelled the opportunity of winger Noni Madueke. Many times the attack failed to make the Arsenal player frustrated.

In the second half, Arsenal continued to play offensively which forced The Eagles to work hard to defend. However, Palace was also able to match Arsenal's game and get opportunities that threatened Kepa's goal.

When this derby entered the final part, the game actually got hotter. Arsenal managed to break the deadlock when Lacroix scored an own goal in the 80th minute. He miscalculated the corner kick taken by Saka.

Arsenal also won 1-0 and tried to defend it. But their efforts were not successful. When the match was about to end, Palace was able to equalize through Marc Guehi. The England national team defender was able to maximize the assist from Jefferson Lerma and change the score to 1-1 in the 90th minute + 5.

With the draw, the match was immediately resolved by a penalty shootout. All Arsenal's executors managed to complete the task. Odegaard opened the penalty shootout well. So did defender William Saliba who successfully defeated goalkeeper Benitez when the penalty shootout entered sudden death.

But Lacroix, who became the next Palace executor, failed. His opponent could be detained by Kepa so that the score remained 8-7 and Arsenal qualified for the semi-finals.