Arsene Wenger will look to get his side back on winning ways after a disappointing opening weekend defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates. Meanwhile Crystal Palace started their premier league campaign on a winning note with a win against the newly promoted Norwich City.
Arsenal had high hopes coming into the new season, some experts had tipped them for a genuine title challenge this year but all that optimism turned into despair after the gunners were completely outplayed by West Ham United last Sunday. Crystal Palace’s win over Norwich was their third league win in a row, after they finished last season with wins over Liverpool and Swansea. Palace are in a confident mood after their big-money summer signing Yohan Cabaye managed to get a goal on his debut.
Arsenal fans will be hoping for a much better performance from their team this weekend especially knowing that its Liverpool next weekend and Chelsea to follow soon after the international break. Alan Pardew will be particularly impressed with the performances of wide men Wilfried Zaha and Jason Puncheon, who possess the kind of pace and penetration which will worry the Arsenal defenders.
Arsenal managed to do a double over Palace last season but it wasn’t before some nerve wrecking moments. Gunners will be keen to get their flowing game going on a newly laid pitch at Selhurst Park after last seasons pitch received much criticism for being too slow.
Palace are still without their goalkeeper Julian Speroni and forward Marouane Chamakh, apart from these two absentees Pardew doesn’t have any other injury concerns. Glenn Murray started upfront last weekend but Pardew might choose to start with the £9 million signing Connor Wickham against Arsenal to hold up the ball and lay it off to the wider men.
Arsenal is expected to welcome back full back Hector Bellerin into the side after he missed the opener due to a thigh strain. Alexis Sanchez will most probably be left on the bench for this match after he made a surprise cameo against West Ham. Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky are still sidelined with Rosicky expected to miss atleast two months of action after going through a surgery. However there was some good news after Arsene Wenger confirmed that Wilshere has returned to the training pitch and wont be out for much longer.
There is no doubt that the pressure will be on the gunners but in the past they have always managed to string together a number of victories after similar disappointments.
Crystal Palace v Arsenal Predicted Lineups:
Predicted Crystal Palace XI: McCarthy, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, McArthur, Jedinak, Puncheon, Cabaye, Zaha and Wickham
Predicted Arsenal XI: Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Cazorla and Giroud.
Predicted scoreline: Crsytal Palace versus Arsenal : 1-2
Crystal Palace v Arsenal Match Facts
- Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 12 visits to Selhurst Park in all competitions. Their only defeat at the ground came in the old Division One in November 1979 when David Swindlehurst scored the only goal of the match (P18, W10, D7, L1).
- Palace are winless in 11 games against Arsenal since a 2-1 victory at Highbury in the Premier League in 1994.
- Crystal Palace won their opening top-flight game for only the second time in 44 years. They have never won their opening two matches in the top division.
- Alan Pardew has equalled the most number of wins by a Crystal Palace boss in the Premier League (11) even though he has only been in charge for 19 games,
- The Gunners have not started a season with successive league defeats since the inaugural Premier League season of 1992-93.
- They have won five and drawn one of their last six away matches in the league. Only Chelsea earned more away points than Arsenal’s tally of 34 last season.
Stats courtesy BBC.