Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Preview

Crystal Palace will begin life after Patrick Vieira when they travel to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday to face title hopefuls Arsenal.

The Gunners maintained their grip on the top spot with a convincing 3-0 win over Fulham last weekend. But their good season suffered a significant dent on Thursday as they were kicked out of the Europa League by Sporting Lisbon.

Manager Mikel Arteta will hope his boys can prove their trophy-winning credentials by bouncing back from the “huge blow” of being dumped out of the only other competition they were involved in this season.

Seeing Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba limp off and being taken through an energy-sapping period of extra time before losing on penalties will have taken a massive toll on Arsenal’s emotions. They will be desperate to win here and keep their five points lead at the top ahead of the international break.

With Manchester City not in league action this weekend, they will now be looking to further open the gap by notching up a sixth successive top-flight win in a single season for the first time since autumn 2018 while also bidding to improve upon their stunning run of just one defeat in their last 16 home league outings (W13, D2).

Crystal Palace sacked manager Vieira on Friday after a run of eleven games without a win (D5, L6), the longest winless run of any club in the top flight this season.

The Eagles’ most recent 1-0 loss to Manchester City was the fourth consecutive game where they failed to score. That has left them just three points clear of the relegation zone ahead of this round.

With the other lower teams improving, the visitors are now in danger of losing their PL status they have held since 2013. A win here will help ease the tension ahead of the international break, and they might fancy their chances of getting a positive result as they are unbeaten in their last four visits to the Emirates (W1, D3).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table