Official Arsenal team and preview for Crystal Palace

I would not call this a must win game for Arsenal by any means, even though it looks like Leicester City are not about to win again and confirm what we already knew, that the Gunners would be going another year without lifting the Premier League trophy, while our place in the top four and subsequent qualification for the Champions League is unlikely to hinge on this one game.

But it would be a bit worrying if Arsenal do fail to beat Crystal Palace at home today, so Arsene Wenger has refrained from messing about with the recent starting line up, other than to bring back our experienced number one keeper Petr Cech in place of the Colombian international David Ospina.

Cech
Bellerin, Koscielny, Gabriel, Monreal
Coquelin, Elneny
Iwobi, Ozil, Sanchez
Welbeck

Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Chambers, Ramsey, Campbell, Walcott, Giroud

So once again the likes of Per Mertesacker, Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott have to settle for a place on the bench. Our forward line of Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Alex Iwobi is full of pace and with Mesut Ozil pulling the creative strings behind them we should cause the Palace defence all sorts of problems.

No doubt Alan Pardew will have them set up for this and will hope to hit us on the break, but the central midfield pairing of Coquelin and Elneny should offer the Arsenal back line some good protection to stop this happening. Come on Arsenal, no messing about today lads!

Tags Cech Giroud Walcott

103 Comments

  1. good line up
    happy to see

    oh an west ham are winning at leicester.
    two late goals.oh man i hope the spuds dont close the gap.

        1. Well deserved red card for Vardy, he’s been doing same kind of diving all season long.

          Karma almost got Leicester, however Moss shat his pants and fell for Leicesters fans booing at the end.

          1. moss was poor this game.
            gods seem to be smiling on them

            anyway time to focus on whats really important….race for 4th

            COYG

        2. It wasn’t a penalty – questionable foul, out of the box and out of time – think Moss let the crowd get to him.

          I hope we don’t go in thinking it will be a walk over, and organise ourselves defensively.

          1. Soft penalty but then again, refs are $hitting their pants when is about Leicester. Meh, anyway they dropped 2 points they actually had in their pockets at half time.

  2. I’d feel more comfortable with Mertesacker instead of Gabriel but given the pace of Crystal Palace Gab could be the right choice. He is just nervous to watch sometimes!

  3. Forget this. The game of the day might be at Camp nou, Barcelona vs Valencia. If they drop more points, it will put them in further trouble for the winning the title. Then again it could end 4-0 to Barca.

  4. Explain how this is not a must win game when we are below City in the league and still have to go away to them this season. Champions league football is not guaranteed yet

  5. arsenal to win 3-1

    wenger will say the ‘cohesion’ was there
    the media will say we are in for cavani pogba and wayne gretsky

    welcome everyone to another episode of this is your life

    1. Wait wait hold on a second..

      Are you saying… The Great Gretzky is available for a transfer?!

      DIRECT ALL THE WAR CHEST TO CANADA!

  6. Arsenal to win 3:0 and Ozil to get to Assist.

    OT: Vardy really deserve that red card. He did that against Us(Monreal) and the Ref foolishly pointed to the Spot for a P.K.

  7. Only possible weakness could be Gabriel but hoping he has a good match

    But glad iwobi and Welbeck get the nod over the hugely overpaid one and Giroud. I think Wenger truly thought Walcott would become WC with that huge pay rise. Rooney is even worse with nearly 300k per week but I think Welbeck is better than both lol

    Best team we can put out there in my opinion

    3-0 to us

  8. So if we win today v Palace n Thurs v WBrom should leave us nicely for champions league spot as we play City basically for 3rd if we do! Leicester showed that fight they have shown all season long, that point could win them the title esp if spurs win on monday away to Stoke!

    Lets hope we at least win today as thats all we can ask for!

    1. The only person you can link with loss since he’s arrived is Kroenke – and that includes money out out of Arsenal’s and fan’s bank accounts.

      Yes we can blame Wenger for on pitch tactics, but when it comes to paying money for players, Gazidis is Kroenke’s mouthpiece, it has nothing to with Wenger.

  9. Our season ended when we lost to Swansea then to Man U’s kids… That’s when i knew for sure, these guys are sissys

    1. Our season ended when wenger did nothing in the winter transfer window and to continue his delusional thought that the likes of Giroud, wilshere, Ramsey, Theo, Ox, Flamini are championship winning quality.

    2. Pi$$ off with your MU’s kids. I bet you havent watched the game at all. All of the heavies were playing bar Rooney. Replaced by the “kids”.

  10. This team is just embarrassing to watch. They have no idea what they’re doing going forward.

    1. It is packed. Probably you watched pre kick off. Stop deluding yourself, in the weekends Emirates is packed.

  11. We lack the cutting edge.
    The gulf in class between us and the like of athletico, bayern etc is so apparent.
    Once close to the 18 yard box, this team has no clue of what to do with the ball.
    If arsenal fails to buy quality in the summer, I see us relegated to mid table mediocrity next season

  12. wenger the jeb bush of football management .. low energy no passion …cant believe fans who think that this guy has a job for life … shocking really … would be no surprise if we dont get in to CL this year and to be honest watching this sh@@ we dont actually deserve to be there

      1. Every “top” team faces that against the smaller teams, yet they manage to crack it through.

        We can’t. We just absolutely have to walk the ball into the net.

        1. And we have on several occasions this season haven’t we? And once again we have. People need to be more patient..

          1. Yea man but did you see how easy that was? Simple lob behind the defense line!

            Shot every know and then outside the box, possible rebound. Just few one twos and flicks, they rarely come off against bus parking teams!

            1. I agree with you we definitely need to shoot more outside the box. However our ”way” has worked too several times when team sit deep, we should just be more patient sometimes i think.

  13. Alexis Sanchez Baby, Alexis Sanchez Goaha ..Goal.

    I Liked the totality of controlled football from the fist half. Shades of Dutch national team. Need to spring quicker into action when entering the final third, bypass couple of gears in a flash, we used to be one of the best at doing this.

  14. The general mood of this team is depressing nothing to look forward to, 85% possession 1 goal…..bring OG and Walnut and let’s end this misery once for all…….LC dropped points still a great game to watch, true champions, never gave up…..Ranieri screaming from the sidelines in injury time …when a Manager makes a difference.

  15. What a joke this club has become!!!! Can’t wait for Arsenal Fan TV, the banter will be unreal!

    4th again!

    1. 4th? We are lucky to be even in Europe next season.

      Palace 2 SHOTS ON TARGET AND 1 GOAL.

  16. …well don’t know what to say really, we haven’t played badly at all… though Cech should have saved it 🙁

    1. The problem is the defence … it has always been the defence, because we spent 80% of the time in their half, you don’t notice it, but as soon as they break into our half we look dodgy.

      1. the thing is for that goal the defence did what they could do, tried to close down the shot, they had no gaps to make anything happen… it was a pot shot and the blame would have to go on Cech for that one… the only thing I could think that could have been done differently is Gabriel taking out Adebayor earlier

        1. I see your point, but Bolasie would’ve never been able to get into that position if we had as many back as they did. Once we had the goal, more emphasis should’ve been on having people back to defend the lead, like we did against Citeh. That doesn’t mean that we don’t attack, but we don’t need to throw people forward and ignore the defence, and protecting the defence.

    2. Flashback from the first round against West Ham. The second goal (I think it was Payet who made the shot) was exactly like that.

    1. Can someone remind me how much Walcott is paid a week? What a waste of a player! Consistently average…classical case of stunted growth in human development…Only in Arsenal can this be…

  17. WENGER OUT AND TAKE HALF OF THIS TEAM WITH YOU…THIS IS YOUR LEGACY YOU OLD FOOL SHOULDVE RETIRE LAST YEAR WHEN YOU WON YOUR FA CUP……THIS IS F…ING EMBARRASING

  18. Ramsey OG and Walcott in utterly garbage, Only Alexis can be considered a good game..this team needs change sooner the better. No motivation or guts. Shame on the pro Wenger to stay any longer..

  19. Our manager is a joke. Tactical nous? Le prof? Why would you do a double substitution ? Ok I give you a swap for Welbeck but Iwobi for Ramsey?? His comments at the pre-game said it all… he believes more in loyalty than whether you are playing ell or right for the occasion. TIME TO GO

  20. so , can we all at least admit that the arsenal are not going to win the premier league this season please . and let us move on and look forward .

  21. I really just cant be bothered with this crap anymore. First time Ive said this but its time to go Arsene.

  22. I think we are all deluded. It’s been time for Wenger to go for 4-5 years. That he hasn’t is a testament to his obstinacy.

    Game over. We are officially not going to win this title.

    1. So you thought we were really going to win the title? why? Is it coz he said its mathematically possible, hehehe. We woke up earlier when Cech was the only signing and Giroud was our beloved CF

  23. Arlene Wenger has single handedly destroyed Arsenal FC. Piers Morgan has been consistent about the fact that Wenger should be sacked. The likes of Ian Wright and former players who keep saying Wenger has earned a right to decide when he should go are hypocrites. Anyone be it a former player or fan who still thinks Wenger should not be sacked does not love this club. Shame. I have always said the first thing Arsenal should do is to replace the incompetent Old man who only cares about his salary with Bilic. Bilic is the best for Arsenal. WENGER IS A FRAUD. HE CAN’T WIN YOU THE LEAGUE.

  24. What was one of the previous articles ‘Arsenal can’t afford to take crystal palace lightly’.

    Knew at the time that the author had been was being as delusional as arsene.

  25. I think its time we wenger a statue at the emirates, maybe that will make him consider leaving arsenal. He is right now the number one problem at arsenal

    1. wenger is a statue , and has been for the past number of seasons . what was once a great and inovative manager has turned to stone . we dont need to bulid a statue to him , he is already one !.

  26. The ground looked half empty. Even Lerner has more passion for Aston Villa than Kroenke has for Arsenal, and look where they are.

    We do need a complete change at Arsenal – the best thing to happen would be Kroenke out, and then we can get more footballing knowledge on the board, rather than Kroenke’s financiers. This would help to lessen our reliance on Wenger, and then we would be able to bring in someone with fresh ideas.

  27. Why is it that our opposition can never score goals from decent team play? It’s always a long shot, deflection or header that do us in. So frustrating!!! Bolasie on any other day would miss that.

    1. Long shot? He was just outside the area. Wish we could try more long shots. You must love the tikka takka possession footbal that we play. 78% possession and we drew. Their keeper had an easy day

  28. Wenger and the board still alive? Cos the only way we get change is if they die. It may be morbid and you can try live in denial all you want but it’s true unfortunately. They’re not going anywhere people.

    1. Kroenke already has his son on the board, so we won’t be free from him, even if that happens. Kroenke is more of a threat to Arsenal than Wenger, as managers are easily changed and his time is limited.

  29. Wenger needs to move to an upstairs office, and a fresher person do it! Guardiola or Klopp would’ve been fine, but they’re committed elsewhere… where they’ll come to teach this old fart modern ways of the game next season.

    1. Would love someone like Simeone in, kick some backsides, but we won’t get anyone like that in while Kroenke is there.

  30. We really have become stale. When do we ever change tactics or even formation? It is just the same old same old week in week out. 2 wins at home out of 6 games. Trying to walk the ball in the net. Always looking for that perfect goal. Funny how we have just dropped off to that 4th spot position now. 21 attempts today and one goal to show for it haha. It’s actually pathetic how terrible we have been this season.

  31. Unfortunately,Wenger would be going nowhere,8 mil a year is such a tempting amount to abandon. Did you notice that wenger usually sits down in Matches? He doesn’t look concerned or like someone under pressure,neither does he look like he’s retiring soon.

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