Can the Gunners down the Eagles?
Arsenal and Crystal Palace face off in yet another London derby at the Emirates with both teams not only neighbours geographically but also neighbours in the standings where Arsenal can be found at 5th and Palace at 6th. A lot is at stake here (mostly Arsenal's pride) so this is bound to be an exciting one.
Arsenal
Emery's men were fortunate in their 3-2 Europa League win against Portuguese outfit Guimares with Pepe coming off the bench and scoring 2 absolutely sublime free-kicks with only minutes left on the clock.
Under pressure Gaffer
Unai Emery is coming under increasing pressure due to the Gunners performances simply not improving and if it continues this way he will definitely be facing the axe sooner rather than later. Prior to their not-so deserved victory against Guimares the Gunners were shambolic when they lost to Sheffield United with 0-1 so all is not as it should be in the Arsenal camp at the moment.
Strong at home
However, an important factor that cannot be looked past is the fact that Arsenal are extremely hard to beat on their home turf where they are yet to lose this season (5 wins and 1 draw) which is a far cry from their away form (1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats).
The opposition they have faced at home might not have been the best, Tottenham being the only top team, but it's hard to do more than win your games and so far, that is exactly what they have done.
If Emery refrains from fielding all the youngsters at his disposal and opts to instead field his (in my own humble opinion) strongest xi this should end in victory.
Crystal Palace
Roy Hodgson has yet again worked wonders with a rather mediocre squad and the fact that not more people are talking about how the Eagles can currently be found at 6th is nothing short of blasphemy.
Palace have so far amassed 4 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats with the standout performance being their 1-0 win at Old Trafford and their 4-0 defeat against Spurs being the low point.
Trouble against top opposition
Their victory against Manchester United was some-what deserved, they defended well and United were, as they have been for a while void of any creative ability whatsoever. Their defeat at Spurs was however a depiction of how it honestly should look after Crystal Palace's defence was absolutely ravaged and Tottenham ran out comfortable winners.
Palace's defeat to Manchester City was similar to the one against Spurs with the only major difference being that it appeared as if City's frontline thought the objective of the game was to squander any given chance.
Overachievers?
The point of it all is that Hodgson's men have been overachieving a tad bit and they are travelling to the Emirates which has become somewhat of a fortress for the Gunners so nothing should be expected. Had they hosted Arsenal the story would be different but that is not the case.
Betting tip
Arsenal are comfortable at home and it shows, it's not an easy place to travel to which is why i will be backing Arsenal to win and both teams to score at 17/10 with Bethard.
