Arsenal is back from their Dubai training camp, fortunate to still be fourth on the log after Tottenham and Aston Villa couldn’t win their respective games.

The Gunners lost three game games on the bounce in all competitions, crashing out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle with a 2-0 home loss to Liverpool. The loss to West Ham was down to poor finishing but the game at Fulham at the end of 2023 should be ranked as Arsenal’s worst game of the entire year.

Crystal Palace can do better than their current standing. The Eagles are just five points off the relegation spot and, considering the quality in their squad, they should be much higher on the Premier League log than 14^th.

Roy Hodgson should be active in the current transfer window, the club needs reinforcements to compete especially, in the middle of the park where they currently have significant injury crisis. They also need a proven goalscorer, Jean Phillippe Mateta, Odsonne Edouard and Jordan Ayew can’t take them there.

The latter is one of the many Premier League players on international duty. Jordan Ayew is currently with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations alongside Mohammed Elneny of Egypt while Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu is with Japan at the Asian Cup.

Eberechi Eze is available for selection, he is Palace’s main creator alongside Michael Olise but the latter could miss the game or start from the bench due to a thigh problem. Will Hughes and Jeffrey Schlupp are options in midfield, can they contain Arsenal?

The Gunners must respond after a run of horrible results. Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka must rediscover their respective forms to help Arsenal out of their current dip. Gabriel Jesus is back from injury and should be available for selection while Alex Zinchenko is still some weeks off.

Arsenal won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Selhurst Park but, the Gunners had to defend deep after going down to ten men in the game; Tomiyasu was sent off after receiving his second yellow but, replays showed it was an unfair one.

Palace will set up to defend and then hit Arsenal on the counter. Both sides have problems with chances conversion, the incentive for Arsenal is quite huge; win and go third, that should be enough to motivate the boys to give their all.

Verdict: Arsenal to win.