Here’s a quick reminder of the Arsenal first-team preparations for the new campaign.
| Date | Opponent | Location | Competition | Result |
| July 2 | Ipswich Town | London Colney | Closed-Door Friendly | 5-1 |
| July 8 | FC Nurnberg | Max-Morlock-Stadion | Club Friendly | 5-3 |
| July 16 | Everton | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, US | Charm City Match | 2-0 |
| July 20 | Orlando City | Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Florida, US | Clash of Nations | 3-1 |
| July 23 | Chelsea | Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida, US | Florida Cup | 4-0 |
| July 28 | Brentford | London Colney | Club Friendly | 1-2 |
| July 30 | Sevilla | Emirates Stadium | Emirates Cup | 6-0 |
As for whether friendlies tell us that much about what will happen next, no probably they don’t. Certainly in 2003 (which as you may recall was the start of the unbeaten season) our build up was
- 11 July 2003: Peterborough 1 Arsenal 0
- 19 July 2003: Barnet 0 Arsenal 0
- 22 July 2003: SC Ritzing 2 Arsenal 2
- 25 July 2003: Austria Wien 0 Arsenal 2
- 29 July 2003: Arsenal 1 Besitkas 0
- 31 July 2003: St Albans City 1 Arsenal 3
- 2 August 2003: Celtic 1 Arsenal 1
For this game the odds give Palace to win at 10/3, a draw at 13/5 and Arsenal to win at 4/5.
In term of injuries, the media is talking up an Arsenal crisis, which is standard form. In fact Arsenal have four senior players with problems, while Palace have five. Everton have seven and Leeds nine, which suggests that if you are running a club that is known to have players who kick everything in sight it might not be a bad idea to tell them this doesn’t include your teammates.
Other top scorers in the injury lists are Leicester 7, Liverpool 8, and Manchester United 6. So let’s have a look at Arsenal’s measly four men down… according to Premier Injuries
| Man Down | Problem | Latest | Return by… | What’s wrong |
| Emile Smith Rowe | Groin/Hip/Pelvic Injury | July 17: “We had Emile as well with a muscular niggle, but it’s a matter of days.” | 13/08/2022 | None |
| Fabio Ferreira Vieira | Ankle/Foot Injury | July 24: “Fabio probably a little bit longer. I think he needs another week or so before he starts with the team, but he’s been working hard.” | 5/08/2022 | Late Fitness Test |
| Kieran Tierney | Knee Injury | July 17: “We had Kieran with a slight problem; it’s a matter of days.” | 5/08/2022 | Late Fitness Test |
| Takehiro Tomiyasu | Thigh Injury | July 24: “Tomi is really close to start doing some training sessions. Hopefully, next week.” | 5/08/2022 | Late Fitness Test |
And so to the team…
For this game the odds give Palace to win at 10/3, a draw at 13/5 and Arsenal to win at 4/5.
In term of injuries, the media is talking up an Arsenal crisis, which is standard form. In fact Arsenal have four senior players with problems, while Palace have five. Everton have seven and Leeds nine, which suggests that if you are running a club that is known to have players who kick everything in sight it might not be a bad idea to tell them this doesn’t include your teammates.
Other top scorers in the injury lists are Leicester 7, Liverpool 8, and Manchester United 6. So let’s have a look at Arsenal’s measly four men down… according to Premier Injuries
Sports Mole give us a 1-2 victory to Arsenal with this team…
Ramsdale;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;
Xhaka, Partey;
Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli;
Jesus
Now Football.London which is part of the brigade of outlets which claims to be able to hack their way into a supercomputer, get off the silly business of controlling the defence of our nation while also predicting the weather, and instead are putting their minds onto forecasting football matches instead.
However, maybe they’ve finally got around to looking up the definition of what a supercomputer actually is, how much they cost to run, and how many of them there are in the country, for instead of claiming access to one they have turned instead to FIFA 22 (which they criticise for being out of date)
Their Fifa 22 team is the same as Sports Mole, but with their simulation, they get us a 3-0 win with Saka scoring the first and then almost immediately Partey making it 2-0 at halftime.
Eddie came on in the second half, and “chipped a cross to the near post where Ben White was waiting, unmarked. White stabbed at the ball, managing to poke it through a gap in a sea of Palace bodies and into the net.” 0-3 to the Arsenal.
The Independent goes with the same team and goes with the 1-2 victory. Sports Keeda goes for 1-3 to the Arsenal. Covers.com goes for 1-2 to the Arsenal.
And by and large that’s how it goes. We trawled quite a sites but an Arsenal win was what everyone was predicting, with the same team as shown above.
Hardly worth bothering to watch now we know
The weather at Crystal Palace is blue skies with white fluffy clouds, a medium breeze and a current temperature of 22C. Negligable chance of rain (hasn’t been anything significant for a couple of months now. In short a lovely summer evening.
COYG
Come out on the front foot. Pressure the ball. Don’t be tentative. Don’t worry about making a mistake. PLAY YOUR FOOTBALL!
COYG!!!
8 fouls by Crystal Palace, still no yellow… interesting…
0 shot on goal Crystal Palace
this after 40 minutes
Mandatory yellow card for Xhaka. Some how no yellow cards for Palace typical
If we do not score 2 more goals, I see this being decided by PGMOL…
Seems like a no card for crystal palace day no matter what they do. Come on Boys
Wow yellow card he should have been sent off 3 yellow cards
Ref is taking the piss arsenal players pushed all over the place play on.
if this ends Nil-1 to the Arsenal it is a miracle
Yesss !!! Up theirs !!!
Wonderful Saka
And wonderful defending so far.
Keep it up Gunners !
Well well, for a team who don’t know how to defend, how to counter physical aggression, the team did well.
Saliba was just incredible. When I remember all the critics about his playing in France….
Ramsdale was going his job.
And the others did their lot.
Let’s just say we came back with at least 2 more points then budgeted.
Not surprised about the comments on BEIN, by some english players, just telling how poor Arsenal’s defense was by showing ONE occasion Palace had (as it happens we’ve got a great goalkeeper, ain’t we ?!?)….not a negative word so far on Palace. And they’ve been talking for 3 minutes now. For them, it’s : knife’s edge but they’ll loose others playing like that. Pathetic.
Great result. Excellent start to the match with a great half hour and complete dominance. Then Palace came better in the match but we dug in and we got a bit lucky with the second (own) goal that put the game to bed. Good first start of our new signins. Saliba very impressive performance.
the comparison card/number of fouls between the 2 teams will be very interesting; taylor outtaylored himself tonight
so proud of the lads (mind-blowing first 30 minutes!!)
Great result. Not easy though despite us being the better team throughout.
You have to laugh at all the media bullshit about Salina leaving and never playing for us. He was excellent and the media were completely and utterly wrong….yet again!
Great result, media hugely disappointed but we all know they’ll come up with some reason to put us down.
Sing, we are top of the league…….. COYG
Saliba!
Saliba Saka and Jesus on my Fantasy football team
😃
That was a tough, physical match and Arsenal gave as good as they got. They came out flying and Palace, as a side, couldn’t keep up in the first 30 mins. Excellent defending and goalkeeping. The new boys were outstanding. the side were very good at keeping possession very often dribbling out of tackles. a lot to like tonight and i think there’s more to come.
Taylor booked Xhaka rightly for diving but showed his standard level of inconsistency not booking any Palace player for at least three dives . The team worryingly seemed to switch play from being totally on the front foot to defending the 1 nil and allowed Palace back into it.
Still it’s 3 points and a clean sheet , some progress and a few things still to iron out.
No. Change in the refereeing. Taylor still the samo old one eyedperson he was last year. The only surprining thing was no penalty to Palace despite two VAR reviews. No doubt Darren England will be banished to the provinces for retraining
I always have a little laugh when the Sky commentators use the word “elite” to describe a referee. They are describing the situation perfectly, albeit without realising exactly what they are saying.