By Bulldog Drummond
There is a phrase that the Telegraph is now dropping into anything that Arsene Wenger ever says, or anything that it imagines the club is doing. In each and every case they now claim that saying this or doing that “is likely to surprise many fans.” It’s a sort of instant knock down and has the benefit of ensuring that the journalist doesn’t have to do any thinking.
Anyway, we move towards the match and having dealt with the referee, the injuries and the home and away form of Palace and Arsenal, we move on to other matters, except, WhoScored has actually managed to take the Palace injury list up to 11. Benteke, Wickham, Mandanda, Tomkins, Dann, Cabaye, Remy, Soure, van Aanholt, McArthur, Campbell.
What this does mean is that our old chum Mathieu Flamini might well play.
Palace have won one game against Arsenal in the last 28 that have been played. On 1 October 1994, at Highbury, they won 1-2. The Arsenal team on that momentous (for Palace) day was
.
Seaman
Dixon Adams Linighan Winterburn
Merson Davis Schwarz Selley
Smith Wright
Kevin Campbell replaced Paul Davis at half time, in an attempt to beef up the attack. Adams and Wright got cards, and Ian Wright got the goal. Bartram and Keown were our unused subs. As a result of the matches on that day the table looked like this…
|
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
GD |
Pts |
|
| 1 |
Newcastle United * |
8 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
25 |
8 |
|
+17 |
22 |
|
| 2 |
Nottingham Forest * |
8 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
17 |
7 |
|
+10 |
20 |
|
| 3 |
Blackburn Rovers * |
8 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
17 |
5 |
|
+12 |
17 |
|
| 4 |
Manchester United |
8 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
6 |
|
+8 |
16 |
|
| 5 |
Liverpool |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
16 |
5 |
|
+11 |
14 |
|
| 6 |
Leeds United * |
8 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
8 |
|
+3 |
14 |
|
| 7 |
Chelsea |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
10 |
|
+3 |
12 |
|
| 8 |
Southampton |
8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
13 |
|
-1 |
12 |
|
| 9 |
Norwich City * |
8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
|
-1 |
12 |
|
| 10 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
14 |
16 |
|
-2 |
12 |
|
| 11 |
Manchester City |
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
10 |
|
+1 |
11 |
|
| 12 |
Aston Villa * |
8 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
8 |
10 |
|
-2 |
9 |
|
| 13 |
Wimbledon * |
8 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
|
-3 |
9 |
|
| 14 |
Arsenal |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
9 |
|
-1 |
8 |
|
| 15 |
West Ham United |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
10 |
|
-6 |
8 |
|
| 16 |
Ipswich Town * |
8 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
9 |
15 |
|
-6 |
7 |
|
| 17 |
Crystal Palace |
8 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
|
-6 |
7 |
|
| 18 |
Queens Park Rangers * |
8 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
15 |
|
-4 |
6 |
|
| 19 |
Sheffield Wednesday * |
8 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
17 |
|
-7 |
6 |
|
| 20 |
Leicester City * |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
12 |
|
-5 |
5 |
|
| 21 |
Coventry City * |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
16 |
|
-10 |
5 |
|
| 22 |
Everton |
8 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
18 |
|
-11 |
3 |
12 of the 22 clubs above marked * are no longer in the top division – obviously over half. Which is interesting in that it includes all of the top three at that moment.
Our run of away games now read thus:
| Game |
Date |
Opposition |
Venue |
Score |
| 21 |
14.01.2017 |
Swansea City |
away |
W4-0 |
| 24 |
04.02.2017 |
Chelsea |
away |
L1-3 |
| 27 |
04.03.2017 |
Liverpool |
away |
L1-3 |
| 29 |
18.03.2017 |
West Bromwich Albion |
away |
L1-3 |
@ Bulldog
Leicester City are still in the league I suppose unless I dreamt the won the league last season and we came 2nd.
To the match, I’d like Giroud to start ahead of Welbeck. He has a knack for Palace and Has scored in the last 4 matches against them including the excellent scorpion kick at the Emirates.
A quick update on our U23s game this afternoon at Reading. A Sanogo’s hat-trick and goals from Debuchy and a club first from Cohen Bramall ensured that we were able to overcome two early Reading goals and finish the game with a five-two victory.
Now we just need our first team to follow suit.
COYG
@Andrew….
Howz Cohen Bramall coping with the stepup…..