Arsenal and Crystal Palace raise the curtain on the 2022/23 Premier League season in a London derby at Selhurst Park later tonight.
Patrick Vieira enters his second campaign as the Crystal Palace boss after a relatively successful first season in London. Under the Frenchman, the Eagles finished 12th in the Premier League while reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, where they endured defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
The Eagles won three of their last four friendlies, notching seven times in two matches against QPR and Montpellier, and have been boosted by the arrivals of Cheick Doucouré and Chris Richards.
Arsenal will be eager to build on that sense of excitement and anticipation and avoid the same fate that befell them in last year’s all-London kick-off, when they were bested by newly-promoted Brentford after a dismal display.
Looking to provide Mikel Arteta’s side with a reality check is a Palace team that will hope to make further strides this term under the tutelage of Arsenal icon Patrick Vieira.
Arteta will undoubtedly hope the fortunes from last season’s opening night change considerably when Arsenal open the season against another London side. The Gunners suffered a morale-sapping defeat to Brentford away from home, although the team was riddled with COVID-19 and injury issues for the clash.
Team news Crystal Palace
Palace will definitely be missing Michael Olise (foot) and James McArthur (groin), while they also only have Guaita to call upon between the sticks as new signing Johnstone is struggling with a thigh problem, as well as Jack Butland.
Veteran defender James Tomkins is also likely to miss out with a calf issue.
Team news Arsenal
Arteta is hoping that he may be able to call upon the services of some of his injured quartet of players, including Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and new signing Fabio Vieira – hear more from the boss on their likely involvement.
William Saliba could be in line for his debut, while the same could be said for Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko
Arteta on Palace: “They showed last season how tough they are, how difficult they are to beat and how consistent they were at home as well, especially against the big teams when they got some great results.
“They had that result against us and hopefully, we learnt a lot of lessons that day, especially the 30 minutes we had where we were nowhere near the standards that we needed and we paid the price for it.”
Vieira on Arsenal: “They had really good games during the pre-season. I think they’re in a better place than last year. The new players they’ve brought in, they are much stronger. They have the squad to challenge and be closer to the title.
“We know that it is going to be challenging but I believe that we have the tools to make it difficult for them, to make it challenging for them. Last year at home with the support we had we had some really good matches, and it will be important to keep it that way.”
Key Stats
- Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games and kept clean sheets in each of the last five outings.
Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last eight Premier League meetings with Arsenal (W2 D5). Following a 3-0 win in April, the Eagles are looking to win consecutive league games against the Gunners for the first time in their history.
- Crystal Palace have won their opening top-flight league match in only five of their previous 22 seasons (D7 L10), although they have won two of their last four (D1 L1), beating Fulham in 2018/19 and Southampton in 2020/21.
- Gabriel Jesus has scored in two of his last three Premier League visits to Selhurst Park.
- Three of Arsenal’s last four goals against Crystal Palace in the Premier League have been netted in the 90th minute or later
- Following their win in April, the Eagles are looking to win consecutive league games against us for the first time in their history.
- Palace ended the last campaign unbeaten in six home league games (W3 D3), keeping a clean sheet in each of the last five. They last had a longer unbeaten home run in the top-flight between March – August 1992, while they’ve never kept six consecutive home clean sheets in the top division.
- None of our last 17 Premier League games has ended in a draw (W11 L6) – only once have we had a longer run (25 between January and October 2018).
- This is Arsenal’s third consecutive season Premier League campaign with a London derby, winning 3-0 at Fulham in 2020/21, before losing 2-0 at Brentford.
- Palace have won their opening top-flight league match in only five of their previous 22 seasons, although they have won two of their last four.
- This will be the fifth time in top-flight history the season has kicked off on a Friday night, with the home side winning on each of the previous four occasions, including our 4-3 win against Leicester City in 2017/18.
Probably lineup Arsenal
Ramsdale; Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus
Possible lineup Palace
Guaita; Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Eze, Doucoure, Schlupp; Ayew, Mateta, Zaha
By: Salisu C. Zuberu
