Arsenal vs Crystal Palace preview: How to watch, lineups, Vieira return & prediction

Arsenal host Crystal Palace on Monday night to end what has felt like the longest break between Premier League matches of all time. Apart from the regular off-season cooldown, that is. Here is the preview.

Football! Again! In club format!

Not only do Mikel Arteta and his side have to wait until last up on the fixture list for matchweek eight, but the lack of European football this term has made what is already usually an agonising wait all the more toiling.

Drawing 0-0 with Brighton all those many moons ago feels like a different season. Well, at last, the wait is almost over for the Arsenal faithful to pour back into the Emirates Stadium. And, this one is special.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace preview: Patrick Vieira returns to north London as a manager for Monday night’s Premier League meeting at the Emirates Stadium

The return of a club legend to the dugout is one everyone is yearning for. Patrick Vieira is embarking on his maiden Premier League managerial adventure, immediately asserting Crystal Palace as every Gunners supporters’ second team this season.

Following an almighty turnover in personnel following Roy Hodgson’s reign, he’s also instilling his own ideas onto this Eagles side, making them a far more exciting team on the eye.

So far those efforts have only resulted in a solitary league win, although it is worth noting they’ve faced three ‘big six’ teams already and should be better value than their points tally than the table suggests.

Welcoming back one of the all-time greats will certainly result in chants of adoration aplenty, but on the pitch it’s all about continuing Arsenal’s unbeaten run in all competitions and edging closer to the European places in the table.

Three consecutive wins were added to with EFL Cup success over AFC Wimbledon, and then the customary palate cleanser of a dreadful display over on the south coast brought everyone crashing back down to earth. Nobody got overly carried away, did they? Maybe just a touch…

Under the Emirates floodlights, this is going to be one to savour.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Monday 18 October
What Time Is Kick Off? 20:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Emirates Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? Sky Sports (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Mike Dean

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Arsenal Team News vs Crystal Palace – Who Does Arteta Have Available?

The international break is not only a period without club football – people do actually like that and international football ain’t all that bad – as it’s also the time where the Arsenal squad gets seriously depleted.

How many times did Theo Walcott come back from England duty crocked?

Well, those times might be in the past *touch wood* as Arteta has seen all 16 of his international stars return without a scratch. Not only that, there were goals galore for the vast majority too.

His first team is left unblemished, although within the camp there has been one minor setback for Gabriel Martinelli.

"“Unfortunately he got injured last week,” Arteta revealed in his pre-match press conference. “It’s a minor injury, and we don’t know if he’s going to be available for Monday. But we have a lot of trust with Gabi and we need to find the right space for him to grow within the squad.”"

The only other absentee is well known with Granit Xhaka still due to be out until the new year, this despite the Swiss putting in exceptional effort to reduce the initial three-month diagnosis down.

For the visiting manager, Vieira is still without Eberechi Eze and Nathan Ferguson who are ‘progressing well’ with their respective recoveries.

Otherwise he also has a strong squad to choose from.

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Arsenal Predicted Starting XI vs Crystal Palace – No Reason to Change?

Arsenal: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, Sambi, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Aubameyang

Crystal Palace: Guaita; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Gallagher, Kouyate, McArthur; Ayew, Benteke, Zaha

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Score Prediction

How Palace approach this game will hinge on who Vieira starts at centre-forward. Transitioning away from the Hodgson style of last season, the Frenchman is much more proactive in his thinking with an emphasis on pressing from the front with a narrow 4-3-3 shape.

Should Edouard get the nod then this looks like being the approach again. If it is Christian Benteke, however, then Palace may look to ease of the ambitious pedal and seek to win the ball back in other areas of the pitch. Due to the comfort in possession of Ben White and Gabriel, and the press resistance of Partey and Sambi, he may go slightly more conservative.

There are a lot of things to like from what Vieira is doing at Selhurst Park: Palace transition from winning the ball back immediately and with the defensive shackles taken off James McArthur their line of engagement is much higher up the pitch than previously.

With Arsenal being on home soil and the pace up front to stretch the pitch and exploit the spaces in behind, as well as the technical craft in midfield and half-space positions to break lines and navigate through the press, they should come out on top in this one.

The visitors will want to keep this at a level game state for as long as possible then look to add more impetus in attack with the likes of Michael Olise and Jeffrey Schlupp to come on later, so nipping that approach in the bud early doors with a dominating opening that sees plenty of possession has to be the gameplan.

Boasting players who’ve been in fine form for their countries over the break, we’re backing Arsenal to see this one through.

Sorry Patrick, we still love you to bits.

Score Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace