The Gunners took the lead twice on the night through Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard but were pegged back courtesy of stunning goals from Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta, and were fortunate to walk away with a point in the end with Palace the side pushing for victory in the last ten minutes.
Both clubs have bigger fish to fry with Palace preparing for their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Saturday and Arsenal set to face Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final next week.
But this was Arsenal’s 13th draw of the campaign and the ninth in which they’ve ceded points from winning positions, and they perhaps wouldn’t have fallen so far short of Liverpool this term if it hadn’t been for the mediocre performances of their captain.
Odegaard missed seven Premier League games through injury early in the campaign and has rarely looked at his best since.
After 19 Premier League goal contributions last season and 22 the season before, the 26-year-old has managed just two goals and six assists this term.
That included a cross from a free-kick for Kiwior for the opening goal at the Emirates on Wednesday, but Carragher still took aim at the playmaker after the game, claiming Odegaard is “not really hurting anybody” by taking up an “easy position”.
Carragher said on Sky Sports: “I feel like a lot of the time, he [Odegaard] is not in the positions he should be. Which is between the lines. Not so much this season, I think he’s had an average season but before that and I was looking at him thinking he was almost on the level of Kevin De Bruyne when he gets the ball between the lines.
“He was threading things, everything was going through him, felt like I was watching one of the best players in the Premier League.
“He’s always coming out of the danger area, he’s almost coming into a central midfield position, any easy position for me where he can make nice passes, look neat and tidy but not really hurting anybody.”
Carragher also claimed manager Mikel Arteta will be “furious” with the result as Arsenal will now be “looking over their shoulder” with four games to play in the Premier League.
The Gunners host Bournemouth between the two legs against Paris Saint-Germain, then go to Liverpool before hosting Newcastle ahead of a final day trip to Southampton.
“I think Arteta will be furious,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports. “They will be fine for qualifying for the Champions League but you want to put it to bed as soon as you can.
“If they’d have won tonight you could write the Bournemouth game off in between PSG and rest the whole team. I don’t think he’s in a position to do that now as Liverpool come after that.
“If they lose the next two games then they other are just behind you and they still have to go to Newcastle. You just don’t want to be looking over your shoulder.”
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