Arsenal make the short trip across London to take on Crystal Palace tonight for their second derby in a week.
The Gunners will be looking to build on their 3-0 win against West Ham on Wednesday night, and with each of their rivals having won this weekend, tonight’s Monday Night Football encounter couldn’t be more crucial.
Our win against the Hammers was our only league victory in our last four outings, and we will be hoping that our bad run is over. The Eagles on the other hand have won four of their last five matches, with a loss in midweek to Southampton ending their run of wins.
We come into the match with some key players missing, with both first-choice goalkeepers David Ospina and Petr Cech missing with injury, stand-in skipper Laurent Koscielny out. as well as Santi Cazorla and Lucas Perez unavailable.
We shouldn’t complain about injuries for this encounter however, with our opponents having as many as 11 first-team players out, including Yohan Cabaye, Scott Dann, Loic Remy, James Tomkins and Van Aanholt among others.
Predicted XI:
Martinez
Bellerin Mustafi Gabriel Monreal
Elneny Xhaka
Walcott Ozil Iwobi
Alexis
Sam Allardyce has lost to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal 15 times in 26 attempts, and that tally should only get worse for him as we look to push on with our fight for the top four.
I expect our fluid passing and creative spark to cause untold problems for Palace’s depleted side, and we should come away with a few goals. I’m going for a 3-1 away win, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Emiliano Martinez pick up another clean sheet tonight.
What are your predictions?
Pat J