Arsenal play Crystal Palace on January 20, as they aim to claim all three points and go level with Aston Villa and Manchester City in 2nd place. The fixture will take place at the Emirates Stadium. We bring you the latest team news and our Arsenal predicted lineup.
Arsenal Predicted Lineup vs Crystal Palace in London Derby
How Arsenal Have Lined-up Recently
David Raya starts in goal, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes creating a formidable centre-back partnership. Ben White starts at right-back whilst Jakub Kiwior has replaced the injured Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.
Declan Rice starts in the centre of the midfield three, with Martin Odegaard to his right. In most games, Kai Havertz completes the midfield three, but Jorginho started the most recent.
Bukayo Saka plays on the right-wing with Gabriel Martinelli on the left, or occasionally Leandro Trossard. Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus have shared minutes up front.
Arsenal’s Recent Form and Tactics
Mikel Arteta’s side have endured three successive defeats for the first time in 21 months. The Gunners lost 2-0 at home to both West Ham and Liverpool, then suffered a 2-1 defeat away at Fulham.
However, the most recent loss in the FA Cup was somewhat unjustified. Liverpool did not have a shot on target until the 64th minute, and only generated 0.64XG compared to Arsenal’s 1.76. The away team only had two shots in the entirety of the first half, whilst the home side had 13.
This dominance highlights the fanbase’s biggest grievance at current: a lack of clinical finishing. The team missed a total of five big chances, four of which came in the first half. Ian Wright put it simply, posting to his Instagram story: “We need a killer”.
Despite Wright’s pleas, Arteta disclosed that “it doesn’t look realistic” to sign a new striker.
Whilst striker options were not ideal (Jesus was injured), the tactical decision to start Havertz as a nine was questionable. The German missed two big chances and turned an XG of 0.65 into an XGOT of just 0.25.
Even without hindsight, the decision seemed strange. the 24-year-old had never particularly impressed up front for Chelsea and had performed better in a slightly deeper role at Bayer Leverkusen. His form in midfield this season has been pleasantly surprising and so it seemed a poor decision to play him up front over Nketiah.
Arsenal Injuries to Consider Against Crystal Palace
Arteta held a press conference, but was very secretive about the status of his injured players: “individually I am not going to tell you exactly how everyone is”.
Zinchenko has missed the last two with a calf injury, and the manager’s refusal to answer any questions on the matter suggests that the player, hailed by Kyle Walker as “technically better than Kevin De Bruyne”, will not start this fixture.
Jesus had a knee problem that caused him to miss the most recent match, but returned to training in Dubai. Jorginho was missing from a training video of the final session of their Dubai camp.
Thomas Partey is out with a thigh problem that caused him to miss the African Cup of Nations, whilst Fabio Vieira is out with a groin injury following surgery.
Jurrien Timber has been out since the opening game of the season, but Arteta is “hopeful that he can have an impact at the end of the season”.
Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu are away on international duty.
Arsenal Predicted Lineup
GK: David Raya
LB: Jakub Kiwior
CB: Gabriel Magalhaes
CB: William Saliba
RB: Ben White
CM: Kai Havertz
CM: Declan Rice
CM: Martin Odegaard
LW: Gabriel Martinelli
ST: Gabriel Jesus
RW: Bukayo Saka
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