The first home game of the season sees Palace welcome last season’s runners up Arsenal to Selhurst Park for Monday Night Football.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 8pm – 21st August 2023
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
The Gunners came to visit for the opening game of last season and ran out 2-0 winners courtesy of goals from Gabriel Martinelli and a Marc Guehi own goal.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Oleksandr Zinchenko (8.1)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: David Coote. Assistants: Marc Perry, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Thomas Bramall. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Michael Olise has been very much in the news this week but he continues to miss out due to a thigh injury but could return at the beginning of October. New signing Matheus Franca is unavailable due to a back injury while Will Hughes continues to recover from a knee injury sustained in pre-season.
ARSENAL – Gabriel Jesus, Mohamed Elneny, and Jurrien Timber miss out because of knee injuries. Albert Sambi Lokonga, Folarin Balogun, and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all doubtful.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – none
YELLOW CARDS – Ben White (1), Justin Timber (1)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 19/03/23 Arsenal 4-1 Palace
- 05/08/22 Palace 0-2 Arsenal
- 04/04/22 Palace 3-0 Arsenal
- 18/10/21 Arsenal 2-2 Palace
- 19/05/21 Palace 1-3 Arsenal
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 12/08/23 Sheffield United 0-1 Palace
- 28/05/23 Palace 1-1 Forest
- 20/05/23 Fulham 2-2 Palace
- 13/05/23 Palace 2-0 Bournemouth
- 06/05/23 Spurs 1-0 Palace
Last FIVE results for Arsenal;
- 12/08/23 Arsenal 2-1 Forest
- 06/08/23 Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City
- 28/05/23 Arsenal 5-0 Wolves
- 20/05/23 Forest 1-0 Arsenal
- 14/05/23 Arsenal 0-3 Brighton
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 5th in the early Premier League table with 3 points from 1 game played, while Arsenal are level on points in 4th.
RECORD AGAINST ARSENAL
- Played 53
- Won 6
- Drawn 16
- Lost 31
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Joachim Andersen 8.49
- Bukayo Saka 8.16
- Jefferson Lerma 8.12
- Eddie Nketiah 7.66
ONE TO WATCH
EDDIE NKETIAH
FORMER CLUBS – Chelsea, Leeds United (loan)
The 24-year-old striker was heavily linked to the Eagles during the summer but with the injury to Gabriel Jesus, he has been thrust into the Gunners firing line. Nketiah is closing in on making a century of appearances for Arsenal after making his first team debut against BATE Borisov in 2017.
KEY CLASH
ODSONNE EDOUARD v WILLIAM SALIBA
The French striker got off the mark in the opener for Palace and should have had more up at Bramall Lane, and will be looking for more with the Gunners heading to South London. He will be up against a defence that has already been weakened but Saliba was clearly missed at the end of last season and will prove a tough opponent.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Odsonne Edouard (1 – 3rd in PL)
- ASSISTS – Jordan Ayew (1 – 3rd in PL)
- PASSES – Joachim Andersen (84 – 14th in PL)
- TACKLES – Jeffrey Schlupp (4 – 9th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Joachim Andersen (101 – 14th in PL)
- SHOTS – Eberechi Eze (8 – 1st in PL)
- FOULS – Joachim Andersen (2 – 19th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Jordan Ayew (8 – 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Sam Johnstone (1 – 15th in PL)
- CLEARANCES – Joachim Andersen (6 – 11th in PL)
- BIG CANCES MISSED – Odsonne Edouard (1 – 3rd in PL)
PRE-MATCH FACTS
Palace have won 3 of their 23 league home matches against Arsenal, drawing 8 and losing 12, with 2 of those victories coming in the Premier League.
Arsenal were victorious in both top-flight meetings with the Eagles last season, winning 2-0 at Selhurst Park and 4-1 at the Emirates.
Palace are seeking to win their opening two top-flight matches for just the second time, having done so in Roy Hodgson’s first spell in charge in 2020-21.
The Eagles have won their first Premier League home game just once in 14 previous attempts, drawing 3 and losing 10.
Palace are unbeaten at home in the top flight since Hodgson returned to the club in March, winning 3 and drawing 2.
Odsonne Edouard is aiming to become the second player to score in both of Palace’s opening 2 matches of a Premier League campaign, emulating Wilfried Zaha in 2020-21.
Roy Hodgson is winless in all 4 Premier League matches as a manager against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, drawing 2 and losing 2 while in charge of Watford and Palace.
TEB PREDICTION
The Eagles will be looking to follow up their opening weekend victory with a point or three from Arsenal on Monday night. The visitors themselves also kicked off the season with a win but it was a tight affair at home to Forest. It came at a cost with the news that new signing Jurrien Timber needs surgery on an ACL injury. Palace could cause the North London side problems under the lights at Selhurst but we will take a point.
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
