“I think it’s another frustrating result for us,” he said in his post-match interview. “Obviously we didn’t start the way we wanted. Arsenal put us under pressure. They scored quite quickly during the first-half, and then I think in the second-half we were more aggressive – we had a great reaction.
“Then, this kind of game when you are leading, you can’t draw. You have to go back home with the three points. I can’t just say it’s concentration. There’s a lot of things going on. There is emotion. We are leading, we are away from home. It’s a tough game and we are tired. There is a lot of things going on.
“But I think it’s no excuse, because it’s not the first time we are dropping points. I think we will learn from our mistakes, but we are learning the hard way.”
Despite their late heartbreak, Palace responded brilliantly to Arsenal’s early opener, which Benteke says must be taken as a positive.
“I think in the first 10-15 minutes we were a little bit slow,” he said. “But in the last 25 [minutes] of the first-half, we were controlling the game, and then in the second-half we were on the front foot. So it’s a frustrating result for us tonight.
“I think we had a great reaction in the second-half. We were more aggressive – Jordan [Ayew], Edi [Odsonne Edouard] and myself. We were a little bit ruthless and we got those goals, but at the end it wasn’t enough to win football matches.
“I think we are playing the way the manager wants us to play: with intensity, playing football. Now it’s not enough. To win a Premier League game we have to be more ruthless, and play with more experience – and stop conceding those late goals.”