Arsenal vs Crystal Palace:

PREVIEW: 

After the disappointment of Thursday night’s Europa League exit, Mikel Arteta's Premier League table toppers  have a quick opportunity to return to winning ways ahead of the international break when Crystal Palace visit Emirates on Sunday.

“We have 11 finals to go and that’s it, that’s the main focus now,” Martin Odegaard said told us after our penalty shoot-out defeat to Sporting CP. “It starts already now in the dressing room to recover well and change the focus, so that’s what we have to do.”

HOW TO WATCH ARSENAL vs PALACE

Country: United Kingdom - Not televised

United States - USA Network

Canada - fuboTV Canada

TEAM NEWS

Crystal Palace Under-21 head coach and former club captain Paddy McCarthy will manage the first team on Sunday following Patrick Vieira's sacking.

Albert Sambi Lokonga is ineligible to face his parent club, Will Hughes and James McArthur remain doubts because of illness and goalkeeper Vicente Guaita might not be fit to return.

Arsenal defenders Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba were both substituted because of injuries against Sporting.

Saliba's back issue may ease by Sunday.

FORM

Arsenal's record in London derbies during 2022-23 has been outstanding. The Gunners head into the weekend’s fixture aiming to become the first team in the capital to win nine Capital derbies in the same season.

HEAD TO HEAD

Arsenal

Victory on Sunday would ensure Arsenal equal last season's final total of 69 points with 10 matches still to play.

They have earned five straight league wins, one short of the longest streak in the division this season set by Newcastle from October to December.

The Gunners can also match their longest Premier League winning streak of six games under Mikel Arteta.Arsenal are vying to become the first team to win more than eight top-flight London derbies in a season.

In nine derbies in 2022-23, they have only dropped points in a 1-1 home draw versus Brentford last month.

Leandro Trossard has provided one goal and five assists in nine league appearances for Arsenal.

Crystal Palace

Palace's current 11-match Premier League winless streak is their longest since going 14 games in a row without a victory between December 2015 and April 2016.

Their tallies of five points, four goals and 26 shots on target during that period are all the lowest in the division in 2023.

It's four league matches without a goal for Palace, who haven't scored in the first half in any of their 11 top-flight fixtures in 2023.

They have already equalled last season's total of 12 Premier League defeats.

Crystal Palace are winless in all 17 league games this season against the teams in the top half of the table heading into this weekend (D8, L9).

Wilfried Zaha has failed to score in any of his past 10 Premier League appearances.

At 19 years and 15 days, Joe Whitworth became the youngest goalkeeper to appear in a Premier League game on Wednesday since Sunderland's Ben Alnwick in December 2005.

Stats from the BBC

PREDICTED LINE-UP 4-3-3

GK: Aaron Ramsdale 

RB: Ben White

CB: Gabriel - 

CB: Rob Holding -

LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko -

DM: Thomas Partey -

CM: Granit Xhaka -

CM: Martin Odegaard - 

RW: Bukayo Saka - 

ST: Leandro Trossard -

LW: Gabriel Martinelli -

SCORE PREDICTION:

Arsenal 2-1 Palace

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VIEW FROM THE PALACE

A run of 12 matches without a win ultimately contributed to Vieira’s dismissal.

“It is with enormous regret that this difficult decision has been made,” chairman Steve Parish told CPFC.co.uk. “Ultimately, results in recent months have placed us in a precarious league position and we felt a change is necessary to give us the best chance of retaining Premier League status.”

Palace go into the matchweek 12th in the Premier League - though they find themselves just three points clear of the relegation zone.

The Eagles haven’t scored in their last four league matches - but they have proved tough to break down. Palace have drawn with Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool at home in 2023 and frustrated Manchester City for long periods before eventually falling to a 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park last weekend.