Arsenal vs Crystal Palace prediction, odds and betting tips
Arsenal will be looking to return to winning ways when they host Crystal Palace this weekend.
Find the latest match odds for Arsenal vs Crystal Palace. All odds are provided by our best-reviewed football betting sites. Odds are subject to change.
- Tip Arsenal to win without conceding - evens with bet365
- Draw at half-time -6/4 with bet365
- Bukayo Sak to score any time - 7/4 with bet365
The last month has not been too kind to Arsenal, who cannot afford too many more slip-ups in the Premier League title race.
After a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on January 17, the Gunners sat top of the table with a slender one-point advantage over Liverpool in second spot and third-placed Aston Villa.
Arsenal have not won since then. A creditable 1-1 draw at Anfield was followed by surprise back-to-back defeats by West Ham United and Fulham after Christmas. Arsenal’s misery was then compounded by a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup.
Mikel Arteta’s men therefore have ground to make up. If results were to go against them this weekend, they would be eight points adrift of top spot before the next set of Premier League fixtures.
That would leave Arsenal in a difficult position in the title race. Liverpool have been impressively consistent up to now and have still lost just one top-flight encounter all season.
Meanwhile Manchester City are beginning to build up a head of steam with six consecutive victories in all competitions. Their come-from-behind triumph over Newcastle United last time out looked ominous, especially with Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland set to start their next league game against Burnley.
Put simply, then, Arsenal must win matches like this. Crystal Palace are a bottom-half team and have picked up three points in only one of their last nine outings.
At the same time, Arteta cannot afford to let complacency kick in. Palace, like virtually every team in this division, are capable of pulling a result out of the bag on their day.
They recently drew 2-2 against Manchester City, for instance, while the Eagles were unfortunate to lose 2-1 to Liverpool last month. Arsenal must be fully focused on the task at hand.
Arsenal host Crystal Palace in the first match of the upcoming Premier League weekend.
Arsenal’s principal problem this season has been putting the ball in the back of the net. This has led to much discussion about the need for a prolific centre-forward to spearhead Arteta’s team.
It is a credible argument and the addition of a 20-goal-a-season striker would certainly do Arsenal no harm. Yet the issue is a little more complicated than that.
Firstly, consider that Arsenal got by just fine with their current front three last season. Gabriel Jesus is never going to score at the same rate as Erling Haaland, but he offers plenty of other qualities in the final third.
The difference this time around is that the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are not chipping in as often as they did in 2022/23. The latter is Arsenal’s top scorer with six.
In addition, the creation of chances is just as big a problem as the conversion of them. The Gunners rank only joint-sixth in the expected goals table.
On account of their poor recent results, confidence in the Arsenal camp may well be low right now. Their best chance of victory over Crystal Palace is by keeping a clean sheet.
Crystal Palace picked up a much-needed win in their last Premier League outing, coming from behind to beat Brentford 3-1.
That ended a run of eight matches without a victory and eased the pressure on Roy Hodgson, whose position had come under scrutiny.
Palace have been competitive in their last five away games. They have avoided defeat in three of them and lost the other two by a one-goal margin, with their opponents scoring the winner in the final 10 minutes.
Hodgson’s side, who are usually set up well defensively, could frustrate Arsenal in the opening period at the Emirates Stadium.
The north Londoners have not been ahead at half-time in any of their last five Premier League fixtures, nor in that defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Palace will struggle to hold out for 90 minutes, but they could succeed in doing so in the first half at least.
Jesus will need to be assessed in the run-up to Saturday’s match after a knee injury.
The indication is that the Brazil international will be fit, so Eddie Nketiah - a Crystal Palace target, if reports are to be believed - will have to make do with a place on the bench.
Regardless of who starts up top for the home team, Saka looks like the best pick in the anytime goalscorer market.
He has not been at his dazzling best so far this season, but the England international is a class act.
As mentioned above, Saka has scored more goals than any of his team-mates and he will fancy his chances of doing so against Palace this weekend.
- Location: Emirates Stadium, London, England.
- Date and time: Saturday 20 January 2024, 12.30pm.
- How to watch: TNT Sports 1.
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