AFTER 358 DAYS... BIG BEN FINALLY STRIKES

THAT laughter you hear wafting across north London on the breeze is from Tottenham.

Arsenal didn’t just pass up a golden chance to go above their neighbours with the shiny new stadium in the race for a top-four finish – they blew it in a blaze of negligence.

And if Unai Emery believes it’s going to get any easier in the race for Champions League football next season, he probably believes in the Easter Bunny, too.

Trips to Wolves and Leicester, who are both fighting for a place in Europe themselves, in the next six days could seal the Gunners’ fate.

But Arsenal’s defence chose the worst possible time to go all Francis Ford Coppola on us and have their apocalypse now.

There are hosepipe bans and biblical droughts – and then there is Christian Benteke. For 45 minutes, Arsenal were so bad that Benteke scored his first goal in 358 days – and he should have had a second.

During an Easter heatwave, only the Gunners could make such heavy weather of a fixture they had lost only twice in 32 previous meetings going back 40 years.

But in truth, they had been riding their luck at the Emirates all season.

Everton, West Ham, Watford, Wolves and Cardiff all left north London feeling short-changed, while Arsenal only scraped past wooden spoonists Huddersfield after having three players booked for diving.

Maybe this was the day luck finally caught up with them.

Palace we can deal with in shorthand. They were vibrant, pacy and clinical on the break.

Just 24 hours after announcing his intention to forsake south London for broader horizons, Wilf Zaha began his mini-farewell tour with a performance as destructive as it was committed.

But Arsenal’s first home defeat in the Premier League since last August deserves more forensic scrutiny because this was a catastrophic moment to lose their bottle. Boss Emery must shoulder some of the blame. His team selection, in the name of rotation, was complacent and naff. Rotation is for tumble dryers.

Emery (below) thought he needed fresh legs after a job well done in Europe against Napoli, but all he got was scrambled minds.

If you send for the cavalry and Mohamed Elneny comes riding over the horizon, somewhere there is a playroom with a rocking horse missing.

If Carl Jenkinson is your secret weapon, MI5 might as well publish all their agents’ home addresses.

And if Shkodran Mustafi is the answer to defensive feebleness, what was the question?

The Gunners had already survived Martin Kelly spooning over the bar from point-blank range when the thin red line was breached.

Luka Milivojevic’s freekick picked out Benteke, and his header was too much for Bernd Leno, ending the big striker’s barren spell stretching back to the 5-0 swamping of Leicester on April 28 last year.

Palace were lucky when referee Jon Moss turned a blind eye to Aaron Wanbissaka parrying Sead Kolasinac’s cross with a raised hand, but Arsenal were equally fortunate to reach the interval without further damage.

Leno made a sprawling double save to deny Cheikhou Kouyate before Benteke shovelled a glorious chance to make it 2-0 over the top from Zaha’s cut-back. It looked like being a crucial miss because within 90 seconds of the restart – and the irate Emery’s double substitution – Arsenal were level.

Alexandre Lacazette’s delicious reverse pass picked out Mesut Ozil’s run and he beat Vicente Guaita at his near post with ease.

But Gunners located the self-destruct button again.

Benteke’s flick should have been meat and drink for Mustafi, but he dithered and the excellent Zaha (right, with Benteke at the full-time whistle) picked his pocket expertly.

And to complete their slack sabbath, the Gunners went to sleep at another Milivojevic set-piece, James Mcarthur heading home Scott Dann’s flick.

Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s 24th goal of the season, gave Arsenal hope with 12 minutes left, and sub Alex Iwobi squandered a glorious chance to salvage a point. But they deserved nothing – and now Chelsea can go above them by avoiding defeat against Burnley tonight. This could prove to be the day Emery blew a topfour finish. Referee .................... Attendance ............................