By Tony Attwood
- Which club has the most yellows the season, and which the least. Arsenal v Palace
- Arsenal advance…. but it is never likely to be enough
- Arsenal v Palace: injury latest and Palace’s performance
- Arsenal v Crystal Palace – It’s the League Cup on tuesday
Everything says this is a game Arsenal should win. Arsenal are doing better in the league than Palace, Palace seem to be finding their travails across Europe are more of a burden than they imagined (even though it is only the Conference League), and quite possibly their players would have welcomed an extra-long Xmas break rather than this game. (Although I suppose that depends on how well they get on with their relatives).
But here it is, the quarter final of the Little Cup, and a chance to give a game to those players who are not getting quite so many matches as they would have liked.
Sports Mole offer us a line up of….
Kepa;
Nichols, Saliba, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly;
Eze, Norgaard, Merino;
Madueke, Jesus, Martinelli
And indeed, the talk of the town is that Jesus is ready to start. In fact, as the Standard says, “Gabriel Jesus could be handed his first start since January, after the Arsenal boss confirmed, “the striker is ready to start.” The Standard also suggests we might see another youngster, as they say, “There could be minutes for 16-year-old defender Marli Salmon, who made his debut against Club Brugge earlier this month. However, an appearance off the bench appears more likely than the teenager being thrown into the starting lineup.”
Personally, I think Palace are still particularly miffed about being relegated to the Conference in Europe this season, and want to get into the European big time, which means both resolving the argument over club ownership and finishing high enough in the league, which in turn means not worrying too much about the League Cup.
Palace lost their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this year, which resulted in them playing in the Conference League. That was due to the owner of Palace also owning Lyon, but since then, Textor has sold his Palace shares (although he didn’t do that early enough to satisfy Uefa) so that issue should now be over and done..
But Palace remain miffed and want to get either one of the five places in the Champions League or one of the two in the Europa League. Winning the League Cuip does result in a place in the Conference League, but Palace clearly perceive themselves as above that. So they are aiming for a top-seven place in the league, rather than another triumph in the League Cup. They are, in fact eigth at the moment in the League so that route is posible – and the last thing they want is injuries playing in the little cup.
I don’t think that means they will simply roll over tonight, but I suspect that any player with even the slightest hint of a niggle will be out.
Here’s the league table….
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 10 | 21 | 39 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 17 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 41 | 16 | 25 | 37 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 36 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 17 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 29 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 17 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 29 |
| 6 | Sunderland | 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 17 | 2 | 27 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 17 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 31 | 28 | 3 | 26 |
| 8 | Crystal Palace | 17 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 26 |
Palace’s problem, however, is that they are erratic. Back in November, they had a four-match run in which they only won one game (and that was against Wolverhampton, a club that always loses). Then after a three-match winning streak (although again admittedly against lesser clubs such as Burnley, Fulham and Shelbourne – the latter of course in the Conference League), Palace have had two defeats in the League and a draw against Kuopion Palloseura in the Conference. This Finish club plays in a stadium that holds 5000 people, which gives an idea of their strength. The game was played at Selhurst Park and ended 2-2.
Back to tonight, and the Standard offers us slight changes from the prediction above…
Kepa;
Timber, Saliba, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly;
Norgaard, Merino, Eze;
Madueke, Jesus, Martinelli
Sporting News also offers us a marginal set of changes, but put all three predictions together and you’ve pretty much got the team and the bench.
Kepa
Nichols, Saliba, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly
Eze, Norgaard, Merino
Madueke, Jesus, Martinelli
And don’t forget to count those yellows.
