Crystal Palace vs Arsenal Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 12/21/24

Crystal Palace put in a solid performance against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the EFL Cup on Wednesday and would have taken plenty of positives from it despite their 3-2 defeat. The Eagles opened the scoring after just 4 minutes and were unlucky not to get a result as Gabriel Jesus’ second goal looked offside but the officials did not give it and there was no VAR in operation. Eddie Nketiah netted against his old club and the Eagles proved that they can cause real issues for the Gunners, who struggled with the pace and power of Jean-Philippe Mateta. After a poor start to the season, Oliver Glasner’s team has now lost just 2 of their last 10 games in all competitions and have beaten Tottenham, Aston Villa and Brighton in that time, as well as earning ties with Manchester City and Newcastle.

Arsenal will undoubtedly field a stronger team than they did in the EFL Cup game between these 2 teams with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba likely to return to the starting lineup. It will be interesting to see if Mikel Arteta persists with Kai Havertz as a central striker following Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick. The Gunners have struggled to create from open play this term but have been deadly from set pieces this season, as no team in the Premier League has scored more goals from such situations than Arsenal. This pair put on an entertaining affair on Wednesday and their EPL could follow suit, with both teams expected to find the net.  Both teams have scored in 7 of Crystal Palace’s last 9 in all competitions and they could play their part in another thriller.