Crystal Palace v Arsenal - Preview and possible lineups

Crystal Palace: The hosts have struggled for form in recent weeks, and with talisman Wilfried Zaha still looking off the pace, the 'Eagles' are set to face a tough task when Arsenal visit Selhurst Park this weekend. 

Palace have lost three consecutive games in the Premier League, and are without a single goal at home all season. And so, their chances of getting anything out of this fixture look very bleak. 

Boss Hodgson is once again without long term absentees Benteke, Wickham and Dann for the foreseable future. And to add insult to this ever-growing list of casualties; attacking duo Max Meyer and Alexander Sørloth are both doubts for this encounter due to illness.

No changes are expected to the staring XI that lost 2-0 away to Everton last time out.

Arsenal: The visitors enter this match on a hot-streak; a win at Selhurst park would attain a twelfth consecutive win in all competitions for Arsenal, the first time the club have done so since October 2007!

Arsenal are the Premier League top scorers away from home; in particular striker Aubameyang will be keen to add to his tally of six league goals so far this campaign,  and the 'Gunners' will enter this match full of confidence that they can take all three points back to North London. 

Manager Emery will have to do without a number of absentees; Mavropanos (groin) and Koscielny (achilles) are both sidelined with respective long term injuries, while Maitland-Niles (leg) , Kolasinac and Monreal (hamstring) are all late doubts for this particular encounter. 

And so a number of changes could be made to the starting XI that beat Leicester 3-1 at the Emriates the last time out; Aubameyang could come in for Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette, while a decision is yet to be made between Lichtsteiner and Monreal at left back.  

Finally, while the player's contract dispute with the club hierarchy rumbles on, Aaron Ramsey is set to once again be named on the bench for Arsenal. 

Roy Hodgson on reviving Palace's fortunes & the in-form 'Gunners':

"“We can and we will [win home games] because the support we get from the Crystal Palace crowd at Selhurst Park is very, very important. The atmosphere is very congenital to us. It can help us play on the front foot and I'm hoping for that on Sunday."

"The way we play and what we did was sufficient to get points but we hadn’t taken them. We’ve got to keep working to make sure the chances are created and that we deny the opposition their chances to create."

"As a unit, Arsenal are playing extremely well. They're working very hard for each other, they're pressuring the ball very well. I don’t see any obvious weaknesses."

"It's going to be a question for us really of making certain that we work hard to minimise their opportunities, to try and control them as well as we can."

Unai Emery on dangers of Palace & demand for more first-half urgency:

"Crystal Palace is a team that doesn't have a lot of big names in it, like the best teams in the Premier League. But they have very good players and produce very good performances. You watch it and say, ‘These players are very good and they have a very big level to play against the best teams’."

" I think they deserve more points in the Premier League and they deserve to be higher in the table, and for us it’s about having the respect and then preparing well for this match if we are to beat them."

""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."

"We aren’t the best team now and when we lost, we weren’t the worst team. We’re a good team who need to improve a lot of things and take more confidence, responsibility and ambition to improve."

Did you know?

Crystal Palace have lost 9 of their past 11 league matches against Arsenal, winning one and drawing the other. 

Only in 2017 have Crystal Palace scored fewer goals after the first nine games in the season as they have tallied up to now; in 2017-18 they only mustered 2 goals in their opening 9 fixtures. 

Arsenal have won more points (437) and averaged more points per game (1.81)  in London Derbies than any other Premier League side.

Arsenal have won their last three away matches  in all competitions that have been played on Sundays ( having previously suffered a dreadful run of losing 5 consecutive Sunday matches).

Possible lineups:

Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt, Townsend, Kouyate, Milivoevic, McArthur, Schlupp, Zaha.

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Aubameyang.