The Sunday Premier League slate includes a London Derby between fourth-placed Arsenal and 13th-placed Crystal Palace. The Gunners are level on points with Chelsea, but are ahead on goal differential and also hold a game in hand on their west London rivals.
They are one point behind fellow north Londoners Tottenham Hotspur, who open the weekend with another fixture at Manchester City. A great chance is present this weekend for Arsenal to leapfrog Spurs in the table. Let’s take a look at the fitness and availability situation for both sides in this one.
We’ll begin with the hosts: midfielder Aaron Ramsey may have played his last game in a Gunners shirt due to the thigh injury he picked up in the win over Napoli on Thursday night. The Welshman is off to join Juventus in the summer.
Arsenal will also be without their trio of long-term absentees Rob Holding, Danny Welbeck and Hector Bellerin. The lone January transfer window addition, Denis Suarez, is a doubt to a thigh issue. The Gunners will also be sans Sokratis who is serving the last of his two-game suspension for getting booked in double figures this season.
Switching over to the visitors, they have nothing short of a defensive crisis, with Jeff Schlupp out for the rest of the season due to a muscular injury. James Tomkins (groin) and Mamadou Sakho (knee) are also out, leaving Palace very depleted in central defense.
“We have been a little bit unlucky in this latter period. It started with Mamadou, then we lost James and now we’ve lost Jeff, which is of course three big blows for us,” said Palace manager Roy Hodgson.
“He won’t play again this season, the ankle injury is such that it will take the three or so weeks we have left.”
“The worst thing with these things is it always happens to players in the same positions, we are certainly stretched at the moment in our defensive positions, we have been depleted in midfield and up front at the moment, fortunately, we do have competition for places.”
Arsenal FC vs Crystal Palace (Premier League) FYIs
Kickoff- Sunday Apr 21, Emirates Stadium 4pm
Arsenal FC starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Form Guide: Arsenal WLWWD Crystal Palace LWLWL
Google Result Probability: Arsenal 63% Draw 21% Crystal Palace 16%
Odds: Arsenal win 8/15, Draw 7/2, Crystal Palace win 11/2
Prediction- Arsenal 2, Crystal Palace 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.