Crystal Palace welcome Arsenal to Selhurst Park in a midweek London derby in the penultimate matchweek of 2020-21 Premier League season.
Victory could lift Palace up to 12th if Wolves lose at Everton, whereas a win would lift Arsenal up to eighth should Everton lose over on Merseyside.
Team News
Nathaniel Clyne could return for Palace after not being risked in Sunday’s comeback win against Aston Villa, having suffered illness last week.
Patrick van Anholt and Luka Milivojevic could also return after missing Sunday’s match for personal reasons.
Mamadou Sakho (thigh), James McArthur (muscle), Nathan Ferguson (thigh) and Connor Wickham (knock) remain absent.
Arsenal could welcome Granit Xhaka back from a groin injury which has kept him out of their last three matches in all competitions.
Hector Bellerin could also be in contention after shaking off a knock to his knee, as David Luiz remains absent with a hamstring injury.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last five matches against Arsenal (W1, D4).
- Arsenal have avoided defeat in four of their last five trips to Selhurst Park (W2, D2, L1).
- January’s goalless draw at Arsenal marked the first time that neither team failed to score in a league meeting since October 1997 at Selhurst Park.
- None of Wilfried Zaha’s 11 league goals this season for Palace have come from a header.
- Both of Emile Smith Rowe’s goals for Arsenal in their last two league games have been scored on his left foot.
Prediction
Although Palace have often been a yo-yo team in terms of form in recent seasons, I for one am going to be sad to see Roy Hodgson depart Selhurst Park because he has brought stability and quality which was evident in Sunday’s spirited comeback win.
Palace though will need to improve defensively after a poor first half display against Villa, yet they showed excellent pace and creativity on the attack on and off the ball which could give Arsenal some issues if they can start on the front foot quickly here.
Arsenal however have had a week off following their clinical win at Chelsea in which they took their rare chances well with an assertion of pressure when out of possession, on top of excellent defending of constant Chelsea attacks.
This therefore should be an interesting game and having home fans back at Selhurst Park could well give Palace players an extra boost to try and get the win, particularly on what will be an emotional evening for the club as they say their farewells to Hodgson.
I though think that a draw would be a decent result for two teams who have endured tough campaigns for different reasons.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal
Result: Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal