Unbloated Arsenal v Palace: injuries, predictions and games against the Palacials.

by Bulldog Drummond

The injury list as published yesterday showed Arsenal in the lower reaches and Palace right up near the top with their old chums Brighton and Hove.

  • Brighton and Hove Albion: 9
  • Crystal Palace: 8
  • Southampton: 8
  • Leeds United: 6
  • Liverpool: 6
  • Manchester City: 6
  • Newcastle United: 6
  • Sheffield United: 6
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers: 6
  • Leicester City: 5
  • Everton: 4
  • West Bromwich Albion: 4
  • West Ham United: 4
  • Arsenal: 3
  • Aston Villa: 3
  • Burnley: 3
  • Chelsea: 3
  • Tottenham Hots: 2

So who are our three?   Well, no surprises – except perhaps that in such a bloated squad no one is suffering from stomach cramps.

In fact you will know because there are no surprises…

Player Reason Latest club statement Potential Return Condition Status
Gabriel Martinelli Ankle/Foot Injury “Gabi turned his ankle on Saturday. He has progressed very well and we’re hoping that he will return to full training with the squad in the next few days.” 18/01/2021 Currently Being Assessed 25%
Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes Other It’s better now, we expect him to be training with us and couple of days and we will make an assessment whether we can have him or not on Thursday.” 14/01/2021 Late Fitness Test 50%
Thomas Partey Thigh Injury “Thomas now he’s been in full training for 4-5 days. It was a little bit rushed to try and play him for Newcastle but I think he will be ready for Thursday.” 14/01/2021 Late Fitness Test 75%

So no surprises there.  We have a nearly complete bloated squad

On the head to head chart the numbers are as you might expect:  We have won 28, Palace have won five and 14 have been drawn.

But since Palace’s elevation to the Premier League for the longest run in the higher echelons in their history we have not quite had it all our own way.  In fact Palace have won two, and four have been drawn, leaving us with eight wins since October 2013.

But the most recent games are more worrying.  Here are the five matches from 2018 onwards

Date Game Res Score Competition
20 Jan 2018 Arsenal v Crystal Palace W 4-1 Premier League
28 Oct 2018 Crystal Palace v Arsenal D 2-2 Premier League
21 Apr 2019 Arsenal v Crystal Palace L 2-3 Premier League
27 Oct 2019 Arsenal v Crystal Palace D 2-2 Premier League
11 Jan 2020 Crystal Palace v Arsenal D 1-1 Premier League

Obviously some improvement is needed on our part.

The BBC are predicting that we will have midfielder Thomas Partey available again, but that probably means he will be on the beach, sunning himself, ready to come on for the last 20 minutes assuming we are 3-0 up. 

They also don’t expect Gabriel to be in the game as although his era of self-isolation is now over and he should have recovered from hurting his ankle in the warm-up on Saturday they don’t quite think he is ready.

But most importantly we noticed in the earlier article that Palace and Arsenal are virtually identical when it comes to us at home and them away.

However there is another factor to consider and that is recent games.  We all know Arsenal have just won four in a row.   But what of Palace?

Date Game Res Score Competition
13 Dec 2020 Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur D 1-1 Premier League
16 Dec 2020 West Ham United v Crystal Palace D 1-1 Premier League
19 Dec 2020 Crystal Palace v Liverpool L 0-7 Premier League
26 Dec 2020 Aston Villa v Crystal Palace L 3-0 Premier League
28 Dec 2020 Crystal Palace v Leicester City D 1-1 Premier League
02 Jan 2021 Crystal Palace v Sheffield United W 2-0 Premier League
08 Jan 2021 Wolverhampton Wand v Crystal Palace L 1-0 FA Cup

That is not so bright, and although all bad runs end sometime, the fact that the only win is over Sheffield United who have only won one game this season.

But let us not too carried away.  Palace have conceded two goals in their last three games.  We need to keep scoring (we have knocked in seven in the last three).  And Palace can score – they knocked in five against West Bromwich and four against Leeds.

More anon.

 

2 Replies to “Unbloated Arsenal v Palace: injuries, predictions and games against the Palacials.”

  1. Where has my own comment posting thatI posted a few minutes ago posted to? I posted it to the UA. But what I saw after I’ve clicked the comment button to post it to the UA was ”Oops”

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