It would be totally wrong to assume that it is three points in the bag for Arsenal just because we are at home against Crystal Palace on Sunday, and I will give you one date why that is a fact; 22nd December 2018. That was the day that Palace went to the Etihad and beat Manchester City 3-2.
Let’s put that in some perspective, City has won 16 of their 17 Premier League home games, they beat us 3-1, Man Utd 3-1, Chelsea 6-0 and Liverpool 2-1.
In better words, any team that goes to the Etihad and wins has to be respected and anything less could spell disaster.
It should also be noted that Palace lost 4-3 to Liverpool at Anfield, we lost 5-1 and they also held Man Utd 0-0 at Old Trafford.
Now, I honestly do believe that we will beat Palace, our home record is formidable and the brutal truth is that we are the better team and despite some very surprising results, Palace are generally mediocre.
But the margins are fine, any complacency, any arrogance and any failure to acknowledge the threat that the Eagles pose will be a huge mistake. We can rightfully feel very confident, we are on a high but that is as far as we should take it.
If we treat Palace as if they were Chelsea, Man Utd or Tottenham then we will win easily, I am absolutely convinced of that but if we treat them like a team that we only have to turn up to beat then we could easily drop points and now is not the time to do that.
I am positive Emery will send the players out in the right frame of mind I just hope that they keep in mind their opponents have to be respected no matter what.
But all said and done, I will be shocked to the core of my marrow if we do not collect all three points.
Damn, have I just fallen into the trap I have warned us against falling in to?