Premier League
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal Preview
Selhurst Park, London – Arsenal are looking to secure their 12th successive win in all competitions when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Palace have scored just five goals in their opening nine Premier League games of the season, and are yet to find the net in their four matches at Selhurst Park to leave Eagles fans frustrated.
Arsenal, on the other hand, are in red-hot form, with Unai Emery’s side – an in particular the attack – gelling well to spark early whispers of a potential title challenge.
Previous Encounters:
Crystal Palace have lost nine of their last 11 Premier League matches against Arsenal (W1 D1), losing both games in 2017-18. Arsenal have only lost one of their nine away Premier League visits to Crystal Palace (W6 D2), a 0-3 reverse in April 2017.
View From Both Camps:
Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace):
“You can’t win football matches unless you score goals. Of course it’s a concern but the fact is there isn’t much more you can about it except keep working, keep trying to create goal chances and hope some of them go in.”
“We’ve not been a team that has spurned many penalty opportunities, for example, but we spurned one the other day. Unfortunately when you get into the type of run that we find ourselves in, that’s the sort of thing that happens.
“The players know what is required, they know they have got the ability and wherewithal to score the goals.”
Unai Emery (Arsenal):
“Each match is a very big opportunity to improve things and one thing is this.”
“But the most important thing is that when we were in the dressing room at half-time, we spoke and we need to continue finding the solution for us to be better in the first halves.”
Team News:
Midfielder Max Meyer and forward Alexander Sørloth are both available for selection after missing last week’s defeat against Everton but Christian Benteke and Joel Ward will not return in time for Sunday’s clash at Selhurst Park.
Arsenal will be hoping to have either Nacho Monreal or Sead Kolasinac back in the squad. Both left-backs missed the Europa League win at Sporting Lisbon with hamstring problems as Granit Xhaka filled the gap in defense.
Predicted Lineups:
Cyrstal Palace (4-4-2): Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt; McArthur, Milivojevic, Kouyate, Schlupp; Zaha, Townsend.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Leno; Bellerin, Mustafi, Soktatis, Lichtsteiner; Xhaka, Torreira; Iwobi, Ozil, Aubameyang; Lacazette.
Match Prediction:
Arsenal would not have had long to prepare for this match following their Europa League exertions, but the Gunners are on a wonderful run. On the other hand, Palace have been awful at home, having failed to score in each of their 4 games at home. Should Arsenal dominate the game from the very beginning, it could prove to be a another woeful performance at home for Palace.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal
Photo credit to Dickson Dagogo via Flickr
