Team news: Jesus, Zinchenko return against Palace

We return to Premier League action on Saturday when Crystal Palace cross the Thames for an early kick-off, as we aim to end our four-game wait for a win.

To try and rectify that, Mikel Arteta and his squad utilised a 13-day break between games to head to Dubai for some warm-weather training, and they’ll be hoping the hard work pays off by leapfrogging Aston Villa into third place in the league table with the three points on offer.

Palace beat Brentford in their last league outing, ending a run of one win in 12 before then that saw them slide towards the relegation zone. However, Roy Hodgson will take some solace in that he has returned from Emirates Stadium with at least a point from his last three visits.

Eagles hope for better in 2024

Having returned to Selhurst Park last March to replace Patrick Vieira and swiftly securing safety, Hodgson has endured a trickier campaign this time around. In fact, the Eagles are aiming to win consecutive league games for the first time since the former England boss recorded three in a row in the immediate aftermath of his second coming.

Despite the summer loss of Wilfried Zaha, the campaign started positively with only two defeats in their first eight games, one of which came via Martin Odegaard’s penalty in SE25 back in August. However, a 4-0 loss at Newcastle United in October kick-started a poor run of form throughout the remainder of 2023.

Seven defeats from 11 matches arrived, with the only victory in that time coming at Burnley in November. Conceding late goals has hurt them badly, and only Sheffield United have conceded more in the last 15 minutes than Palace’s 11, with Everton, Luton, Liverpool, Brighton and Chelsea all snatching points away from a side now just five above the drop zone, and out of the FA Cup following Wednesday’s replay defeat against the Toffees.

What the managers say

Arteta: “[Hodgson’s] teams are extremely well-organised and hard to beat. He’s really good at provoking things that he wants in the game and tomorrow is going to be a big battle for us, that’s for sure.

“We are recharged, full of energy and super motivated. The team is super motivated and we want to attack the second half of the season with a lot of ambitions and with the understanding that the team is capable of big things. They are convinced of that.” – read everything Mikel said in his pre-match press conference

Hodgson: “I’ve never taken a team to Arsenal thinking: ‘this is an easy one for us.’ It’s always been up against it really, the underdog, which we still are in this match as well.

“But I thought there were a lot of aspects to our play on Wednesday night which were very satisfying. I thought we carried out our gameplan pretty well and on another occasion, I think we’d have even got a result from that game. I do think we take a little bit of positivity from the Wednesday evening game into that game tomorrow with us.”

Team news

Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko missed our FA Cup tie with Liverpool last time out and it remains to be seen if they’ll be fit enough to play some part in this game. 

Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu are away with their national teams, Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey remain out, while Jurrien Timber is back doing some light training but remains a long-term absentee.

Jordan Ayew is with the Ghana squad at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Michael Olise will be missing for a few weeks with a hamstring injury, the same problem that has sidelined captain Joel Ward and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, but the youngster returned to training this week.

Cheick Doucoure is out for the season with an Achilles injury, while Gunner Rob Holding has been out since December with an ankle issue as he still awaits his league debut.

Talking tactics

Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: From a tactical perspective Hodgson tries not to complicate matters, opting for a straightforward 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 most weeks. He did switch to a defensive 5-4-1 away to Manchester City, and the players looked very comfortable in that set-up designed to stifle space inside their own defensive third and counter-attack with quality, using Jean-Philippe Mateta to hold the ball up.

When facing the toughest opponents, Palace are usually content to sit behind the ball and keep a disciplined shape. They average just a 42 per cent share of possession and are happy to play on the break, and from the turnovers they create, Hodgson’s side like to get the ball forward quickly to their front three using long diagonal passes from central defenders Joachim Andersen [above] and Marc Guehi.

Inside their own half the Eagles are usually very aggressive, making the second-highest number of tackles so far this term. Their centre-back partnership is excellent, and in central midfield they are abrasive opponents that stifle the rhythm of their opponents. This ensures they limit shots on their own goal, and only ourselves and Manchester City have had to make fewer saves than the Eagles.

However Hodgson will be incredibly frustrated that his team have scored from just one set piece so far this term – the lowest return of all 20 top-flight teams, while one big reason behind their poor form of late has been their wayward finishing, with a shot conversion rate of 14 per cent ranking them 16th in the division. 

Facts and stats

After a run of just one win in eight games against Crystal Palace, we have now won each of our last three against the Eagles.

Palace have picked up six points in Premier League London derbies this season, less than any other side. Away from home, the Eagles have won just one of their last 17 matches against fellow London clubs (D9 L7), a 2-1 victory at West Ham in November 2022.

We have lost our last two London derbies, as many as in our previous 25 combined. We haven’t lost three consecutive such games since March 1993.

We have lost our last three matches in all competitions, last losing four in a row in March 2018. We’ve not lost three in a row at home without scoring since a run of four in 1908.

Only Liverpool (17) and Luton (14) have scored more goals in the final 15 minutes of Premier League games this season than ourselves (11).

Bukayo Saka has been involved in 15 goals in his last 18 Premier League London derbies, scoring six and assisting nine. Three of those came in our 4-1 win over Palace last term.

Eberechi Eze could make his 100th Premier League appearance in this match. Aged 25 years and 205 days, he’d be the third youngest to reach the milestone for the Eagles after Tyrick Mitchell and Wilfried Zaha.

Match officials

Paul Tierney will make his second appearance at Emirates Stadium this term, having refereed our 2-2 draw against Fulham in August, awarding us a penalty in the process. That was the seventh consecutive game he has overseen that we failed to win, a run that stretches back to August 2021.

Meanwhile, Palace are unbeaten in 11 matches that Tierney has been appointed to, going back even further to January 2020 when they secured a 1-1 draw against us. This season has seen them draw against Fulham and Manchester City on his watch – the latter seeing Tierney award a 95th-minute spot-kick to Hodgson’s side to earn a fine draw at the Etihad.

Referee: Paul TierneyAssistants: Scott Ledger, Dan RobathanFourth official: Andy MadleyVAR: Stuart AttwellAssistant VAR: Steve Meredith

Test yourself

Have a go at these 10 teasers about our previous encounters with the Eagles in north London during the Premier League era – can you get them all right?

Recent visits from the Eagles

Last season was the first time we’d managed to triumph at home against the Eagles in five attempts, and we did so in style by recording a 4-1 win back in March 2023. Bukayo Saka netted a brace after Gabriel Martinelli had given us the lead, with Granit Xhaka also on target.

Palace may have succeeded in just one of their last 12 away games against us, winning 3-2 in April 2019, but they have proven to be tough visitors to Emirates Stadium. In October 2021 only a last-minute Alexandre Lacazette goal earned us a 2-2 draw, and earlier that year a resolute defence resulted in a 0-0 scoreline.

Another 2-2 draw was recorded in October 2019, despite us going 2-0 ahead after just nine minutes thanks to strikes from Sokratis and David Luiz.

Watch six classic home wins against the Eagles, including a Paul Merson hat-trick, a five-star showing and another chance to see Olivier Giroud’s genius.

Live coverage

Tune into the Breakdown Live on Arsenal.com and the official app an hour before kick-off for the perfect pre-match build-up for any Gooner!

Broadcasting live from Emirates Stadium, Nicole Holliday and Adrian Clarke will be joined by musicians Sam Tompkins and Bugsey, while members of Arsenal Portugal will be pitchside to share their excitement about their visit.

Then from 12.45pm UK time, live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn who will steer you through all the on-pitch goings on.

You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the game live wherever you are in the world.

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