Arsenal's Plan to Overcome Crystal Palace

By Danong

Arsenal and Crystal Palace clash on Saturday evening in a Premier League Match Day 17 showdown.

The Gunners, fresh from beating Palace 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium to book a Carabao Cup semi-final spot, now make the short trip to Selhurst Park to once again play their London rivals.

Palace proved on Wednesday night that they can't be taken lightly. Looking at their results prior to that Carabao Cup quarter-final—with 5 games unbeaten—it suggests they were finding their footing after a poor start to the season.

After draws with Fulham (1-1) and Everton (0-0), dropping 4 points, Arsenal's title ambitions can't afford another draw. A draw tonight is like a loss.

Mikel Arteta and his technical bench need to go for the kill. Fortunately, almost every Gunner will be available for that game.

Arteta hinted that Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori, and Oleksander Zinchenko, who missed the last few games due to injuries, are in contention to feature on Saturday evening.

On Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori, Arteta told the media on Friday: "They are both available to be in the squad."

And on any other injury updates, he added: "Zinchenko could probably be available as well. Tomiyasu won't be."

The Arsenal line-up should aim to get the best out of the left-hand side. Criticism arising from Arsenal's last few games suggests they're right-side biased, with almost every attacking play coming from the right through Saka.

The left wing needs to step up, and what better way to do so than to play the best Arsenal left-hand side players on paper? Merino was signed for LCM, and Calafiori was recruited for LB.

The chopping and changing of players in these 2 positions were highlighted as one of the big contributors to Gabriel Martinelli's struggles. Well, against Palace, let's give the Brazilian the perfect conditions to shine.

Notably, Martinelli loves playing Crystal Palace. He has 4 goals in his last 4 games against them. He’s scored more goals against them (5) than against any other club in the Premier League.

That fine statistic, plus the fact that he seems to be at his best when Calafiori is at left back, should have his resurgence arc on Saturday evening.

Martinelli's Stats:

- When he starts with Calafiori:

  - Games: 58

  - Goals: 2

  - Assists: 2

  - Avg rating: 7.84

- When he starts without Calafiori:

  - Games: 10

  - Goals: 1

  - Assists: 0

  - Avg rating: 6.96

Here's my predicted Arsenal line-up versus Palace that will ensure the boys in red and white bounce back to winning ways:

- Raya

- Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori

- Partey, Merino, Ødegaard

- Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

This is the line up that will allow Martinelli to rediscover his form and it could be the lift this Arsenal attack needs to fire on all cylinders.