Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace: Matteo Guendouzi 'lucky' to avoid red card for Wilfried Zaha tackle - Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson believes Matteo Guendouzi was "quite lucky" to avoid a red card for a late tackle on Wilfried Zaha during Crystal Palace's 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Sunday.

Palace fought back from two goals down at the Emirates to secure a valuable point, though there was plenty of controversy throughout the game.

Arsenal took a 2-0 lead within nine minutes when centre backs Sokratis and David Luiz got on the scoresheet just 106 seconds apart from two corner kicks delivered by Nicolas Pepe.

Referee Martin Atkinson then booked Zaha for what he perceived to be a dive in the box from a Calum Chambers challenge but VAR intervened and ruled it a penalty, which was put away by midfielder Luka Milivojevic.

Palace started the second half the stronger of the two sides and seven minutes after the restart, Jordan Ayew levelled the score with a header at the far post from a James McArthur cross.

Arsenal boss Unai Emery then withdrew Granit Xhaka, who was booed by the home support and the incensed skipper took off his shirt and stormed down the tunnel.

Sokratis managed to pounce yet again on a corner kick late in the game to make it 3-2 but VAR overruled the goal for a foul in the buildup from Chambers.

In the fifth minute of injury time, Palace countered from an Arsenal corner as Zaha clipped the ball over Guendouzi in the Eagles' half - and the young Arsenal midfielder made a rugby-style tackle on the Ivory Coast international to spark scenes of fury among the visiting side.

Guendouzi was booked by referee Atkinson - a decision likely made due to there also being two more Arsenal defenders chasing Zaha - but Palace boss Hodgson feels the Gunners midfielder was fortunate to stay on the field.

Hodgson told reporters after the game: "There's no way he wanted to cause any harm, he just wanted to stop Zaha getting free because they wouldn't have caught him and it would have been a case of can he convert one on one.

"I think he [Guendouzi] is quite lucky he got the yellow card, some might say it was a red, but that's of no interest to me. I'm just disappointed Wilf [Zaha] didn't get chance to win the game for us."

Additional reporting by Reuters.