Unbloated Arsenal v Palace: injuries, predictions and games against the Palacials.

by Bulldog Drummond

The injury list as published yesterday showed Arsenal in the lower reaches and Palace right up near the top with their old chums Brighton and Hove.

• Brighton and Hove Albion: 9
• Crystal Palace: 8
• Southampton: 8
• Leeds United: 6
• Liverpool: 6
• Manchester City: 6
• Newcastle United: 6
• Sheffield United: 6
• Wolverhampton Wanderers: 6
• Leicester City: 5
• Everton: 4
• West Bromwich Albion: 4
• West Ham United: 4
• Arsenal: 3
• Aston Villa: 3
• Burnley: 3
• Chelsea: 3
• Tottenham Hots: 2

So who are our three?   Well, no surprises – except perhaps that in such a bloated squad no one is suffering from stomach cramps.

In fact you will know because there are no surprises…

Player	Reason	Latest club statement	Potential Return	Condition	Status
Gabriel Martinelli	Ankle/Foot Injury	“Gabi turned his ankle on Saturday. He has progressed very well and we’re hoping that he will return to full training with the squad in the next few days.”	18/01/2021	Currently Being Assessed	25%
Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes	Other	It’s better now, we expect him to be training with us and couple of days and we will make an assessment whether we can have him or not on Thursday.”	14/01/2021	Late Fitness Test	50%
Thomas Partey	Thigh Injury	“Thomas now he’s been in full training for 4-5 days. It was a little bit rushed to try and play him for Newcastle but I think he will be ready for Thursday.”	14/01/2021	Late Fitness Test	75%

So no surprises there.  We have a nearly complete bloated squad

On the head to head chart the numbers are as you might expect:  We have won 28, Palace have won five and 14 have been drawn.

But since Palace’s elevation to the Premier League for the longest run in the higher echelons in their history we have not quite had it all our own way.  In fact Palace have won two, and four have been drawn, leaving us with eight wins since October 2013.

But the most recent games are more worrying.  Here are the five matches from 2018 onwards

Date	Game	Res	Score	Competition
20 Jan 2018	Arsenal v Crystal Palace	W	4-1	Premier League
28 Oct 2018	Crystal Palace v Arsenal	D	2-2	Premier League
21 Apr 2019	Arsenal v Crystal Palace	L	2-3	Premier League
27 Oct 2019	Arsenal v Crystal Palace	D	2-2	Premier League
11 Jan 2020	Crystal Palace v Arsenal	D	1-1	Premier League

Obviously some improvement is needed on our part.

The BBC are predicting that we will have midfielder Thomas Partey available again, but that probably means he will be on the beach, sunning himself, ready to come on for the last 20 minutes assuming we are 3-0 up. 

They also don’t expect Gabriel to be in the game as although his era of self-isolation is now over and he should have recovered from hurting his ankle in the warm-up on Saturday they don’t quite think he is ready.

But most importantly we noticed in the earlier article that Palace and Arsenal are virtually identical when it comes to us at home and them away.

However there is another factor to consider and that is recent games.  We all know Arsenal have just won four in a row.   But what of Palace?

Date	Game	Res	Score	Competition
13 Dec 2020	Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur	D	1-1	Premier League
16 Dec 2020	West Ham United v Crystal Palace	D	1-1	Premier League
19 Dec 2020	Crystal Palace v Liverpool	L	0-7	Premier League
26 Dec 2020	Aston Villa v Crystal Palace	L	3-0	Premier League
28 Dec 2020	Crystal Palace v Leicester City	D	1-1	Premier League
02 Jan 2021	Crystal Palace v Sheffield United	W	2-0	Premier League
08 Jan 2021	Wolverhampton Wand v Crystal Palace	L	1-0	FA Cup

That is not so bright, and although all bad runs end sometime, the fact that the only win is over Sheffield United who have only won one game this season.

But let us not too carried away.  Palace have conceded two goals in their last three games.  We need to keep scoring (we have knocked in seven in the last three).  And Palace can score – they knocked in five against West Bromwich and four against Leeds.

More anon.