Arsenal vs Crystal Palace
Emirates Stadium
8:00pm

Arsenal are in a better place than they were after three games, they won back to back league games and have kept three clean sheets out of their last four, still in the bottom half on the log but for all their terrible start, they would be within one point of Manchester United if they best Palace on Monday.

Crystal Palace aren’t in a bad place as well, Patrick Vieira has brought some stability to the squad, getting rid of the ageing legs and infusing young lads, fresh breath, new ideas and a whole new identity, it’s only a matter of time before they become a team to be afraid of.

Arsenal settled for a point at Brighton before the international break, that was one game they would have lost on other days, they defended deep and soaked the pressure heaped on them by the Seagulls, they have a defense to trust now, they need to improve going forward.

The Eagles came back from 2 goals down to earn a point at home to Leicester City, they proved their worth and could even have grabbed all the points on offer with a late onslaught that the Foxes had to withstand. This fixture will be fun to watch.

Vieira made his name in world football at Arsenal, leading the invincibles to a record that is still up there in the books, there are strong rumors that the Frenchman is part of the group that wants to snatch the club from the KSE group, good luck to them with that.

How will they line up? Granit Xhaka is the only missing player in the Arsenal squad, Palace will also be able to call on almost all their men as well as there were no fresh injuries from the international break, the Eagles will not sit deep and counter Arsenal, they will take the battle to them.

Wilfred Zaha will be the strong outlet as well as Michael Olise who is most likely going to start from the bench, will Vieira start Christian Benteke or the new boy from Celtic, Odssone Edouard? If there’s any weak link in the Palace team, it will be in the holding midfield role, can Arsenal exploit that?

Arsenal will hope Thomas Partey brings his international form to the league, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe will be the creative force for Arsenal as well as Martin Odegaard. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang will be upfront hoping to fire the Gunners to a win.

Three of the last five between these two ended in draws but Arsenal won the last time the two met with Nicolas Pepe scoring twice on the final day of last season. This will be interesting to watch for the neutrals.

Verdict: Arsenal to win