Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha jokes 'NFL's at Wembley' over Matteo Guendouzi tackle

"I had to foul Zaha at the end," Guendouzi admitted. "Otherwise he is through on goal on his own."

Sunday 27 October 2019 22:48, UK

Wilfried Zaha compared Matteo Guendouzi's tackle on him to something out of an NFL game after Crystal Palace's controversial 2-2 draw at Arsenal.

While the Cincinnati Bengals and LA Rams were battering each other at Wembley, Gunners midfielder Guendouzi brought down Zaha to stop a counter-attack in the dying embers of their clash at the Emirates on Sunday.

The foul initiated a melee between both sets of players, with tensions already running high after a number of VAR decisions affected the game, and Guendouzi was given a booking by referee Martin Atkinson.

After the final whistle, Zaha tweeted a picture of the tackle with the caption: "NFL's at Wembley..."

But Frenchman Guendouzi said: "I had to foul Zaha at the end, otherwise he is through on goal on his own. I'm the last defender but I'm far from our goal as well. I had to do it."

The two players made up after the incident, as high-flying Palace fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the help of VAR.

In a game which saw Granit Xhaka clash with his own fans following his second-half substitution, one of those incidents saw the visitors correctly awarded a penalty after Calum Chambers felled Wilfried Zaha in the penalty area.

Zaha, who was heavily linked with a move to the Gunners in the summer, was initially booked for diving until the Video Assistant Referee intervened to award the spot-kick, from which Luka Milivojevic converted.