Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Arsenal will look to cement their place in the top four when we entertain Crystal Palace at the Emirates on New Year’s Day.

We got back to winning ways following consecutive defeats to Everton and Man City by edging past West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at the Emirates on Boxing Day thanks to a late header from Olivier Giroud.

That win saw us hold on to fourth place but Tottenham can leapfrog us if they beat Watford tomorrow while Man Utd are now also just one point behind after beating Middlesbrough today so the race for the top four is well and truly on.

Arsene Wenger will be up against one of his old foes in Sam Allardyce tomorrow after the disgraced former England boss replaced Alan Pardew in the hot-seat at Selhurst Park last week.

Allardyce secured a 1-1 draw at Watford in his first game in charge and he’ll be looking to go away with another positive result from the Emirates to help the Eagles climb away from the relegation zone.

Team news

Arsenal will have to make do without the services of Theo Walcott as the attacker has once again been ruled out with a minor calf injury which kept him out of the West Brom game.

Kieran Gibbs is also out with a knee injury which he picked up on Boxing Day so he remains on the sidelines along with Santi Cazorla.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is expected to return to the squad after recovering from a minor hamstring injury while Shkodran Mustafi will also come back in to the side after overcoming his own hamstring complaint.

Danny Welbeck and Per Mertesacker have been working their way back to full fitness following serious knee injuries but neither are ready to return to the squad just yet.

Palace will be without Damien Delaney as the defender misses out through suspension but James Tomkins is back in contention after recovering from a thigh injury.

James McArthur and Joe Ledley could also be available again but striker Loic Remy is still lacking match fitness so remains out along with Connor Wickham, Bakary Sako, Pape Souare and Steve Mandanda remain long-term absentees.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace: We laboured to victory over the Baggies last time out after struggling to break down a stubborn West Brom side and I wouldn’t be surprised if Allardyce adopted similar tactics tomorrow. Therefore, I’m expecting another tough game but hopefully we’ll have enough in attack to collect all three points. I’m going for another narrow 1-0 win.

Betting Tips

Arsenal are the 1/3 favourites to win the game but we can get you enhanced odds of 4/1 on the Gunners – just click here to take advantage of these crazy odds. However, here are some other bets I like the look of:

• Both teams to score NO at 19/20 – a £10 bet would return £19.50
• Exact score of 1-0 Arsenal win at 15/2 – a £10 bet would return £85
• Sanchez to score the only goal in a 1-0 Arsenal win at 14/1 – a £10 bet would return £150