Arsenal welcome their London rivals Crystal Palace led by none other than the legendary Arsenal midfielder of the past, Patrick Vieira! This will be the only bout in the English Premier League (EPL) tomorrow.
Patrick Vieira took the helm of Crystal Palace in July 2021 after managing Nice in France and New York City FC in the US for a short amount of time. But he is still mainly remembered as being a core part of the Arsenal Invincibles, leading them to win the Premier League title in 2003/04 with no losses.
“I’m really looking forward to it [the game against Arsenal], I had a chance to play for this club for nine years – I arrived when I was a kid and I left as a man. This is the club where I played my best football so obviously going back will be emotional,” said Vieira.
And how is their season going so far? Crystal Palace sit in 14th place with 7 points out of 7 matches, so not great. They only won once, against a 10-men Tottenham, but they did have a really tough draw at the beginning of the season, and they are bound to get better with time.
Arsenal are currently directly above Crystal Palace, in 13th spot with 10 points. After 4 wins in a row, their progress was halted at the beginning of October in Brighton where they only drew 0-0. They hope to return to winning ways back at the Emirates Stadium and keep on climbing up the EPL table. With Granit Xhaka out, we are likely to see Partey and Lokonga in the Gunners midfield.
Keep an eye on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who seemed to have finally found his form in the past few matches, as he’ll be looking to score one or two in front of the home fans. He is sure to get help from the two talented youngsters, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, who both quickly became fan favourites with their slick offensive style of football.
Wilfried Zaha is the stand-out for the Eagles. The left-winger scored 2 goals so far this season and also assisted on one more.
We predict a 3-1 Arsenal win. The Gunners are at home and have been the more consistent team of the two this season.
