Crystal Palace vs Woolwich preview, team news, tickets & prediction

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal is the second London Derby of the new Premier League season.

It will be played on the same matchday with Fulham-Brentford and West Ham United-Chelsea. However, it will be the final fixture on matchday 2 which means that it will have to be entertaining enough to close the curtain on the second matchday of the league.

Both teams are currently high up the Premier League table after bagging three points in their opening matches.

Arsenal played hosts to Nottingham Forest and had to recollect themselves to prevent a draw or a loss. Their match ended 2-1 and Mikel Arteta had a few worries which he hopes to address before making the trip to Crystal Palace’s home ground.

“It’s always difficult to win the first game in the Premier League. I think we deserved to win,” Arteta told TNT Sports after the game. “But we didn’t kill the game and 2-0 in the Premier League is a really dangerous result.

“We had a lack of concentration on the counter after the corner, they scored a goal and then it’s game on and they throw a lot of bodies there.

“We didn’t concede anything but the feeling was, ‘Okay, we want the game to end and (take) the three points’.”

Roy Hodgson knows all about dangerous results in the Premier League. After another dangerous result against Sheffield United, the septuagenarian said: “We knew Sheffield United would make life difficult for us and they wouldn’t take too many chances playing through the midfield, but I thought we dealt with it extremely well.

“It’s just a bit disappointing not to get that second goal to give ourselves a margin.”

Arsenal are not Sheffield and as the 76-year-old tactician prepares to welcome a side he is very familiar with, he will hope to plug all the holes so that the Gunners do not run riot early in the game to increase their chances of grabbing all three points.

History is not kind to the Eagles in this fixture, which is another worry that the club’s fans will have.

Palace have only won six games out of 53 official games both teams have played. They have also only been able to secure 12 draws while Arsenal have run all over them on 31 occasions.

They will be biting their fingers as Arsenal takes to the Selhurst Park pitch on 21 August 2023.

Match Tickets

Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park will play host to the Eagles and the Gunners in front of 25,486 fans from both sides as well as neutrals and football dignitaries who follow both teams.

The match will take place on Monday 21 August 2023 at 8 PM. It will be broadcast on Sky Sports and on other Premier League broadcast partners around the world to serve fans who will be tuning in from outside the United Kingdom.

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal tickets are already on sale on the websites of both teams. The waiting list for the tickets will be long and many fans will not be able to get tickets to the match.

This is an important match for Crystal Palace fans who are torn into sections about the club’s decision to keep Roy Hodgson for the new season while other clubs were going ahead to employ new, younger coaches.

Team news

For the next few matchdays, every team in the Premier League will have the opportunity of adding new players to their squad.

This means that team news for each team will continually change until September 1, when fixtures list congestion, injuries and suspensions will begin to play a key role in what players make the matchday squads of their teams.

For Arsenal and Crystal Palace, more movement could happen in the week leading up to their Monday 21 August 2023 match. The Gunners are looking to add a new left-sided defender and are reportedly eyeing a move for Aymeric Laporte who will join Mikel Arteta, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko as Manchester City alum at the North London club.

The biggest news is the loss of Jurrien Timber to an ACL injury which will keep him out for most of the season. This will see Takehiro Tomiyasu make his comeback to the starting XI. Kieran Tierney is also on his way out of the club and that move could be finalized before they travel to Selhurst Park.

Crystal Palace could lose Michael Olise to Chelsea as the Blues are prepared to add the France U-21 international to their ever-increasing talent pool. Arsenal man Folarin Balogun could also arrive at Selhurst Park as a new addition to Roy Hodgson’s team. Che Adams from Southampton is also on their radar.

Outside these potential additions and the possible exit of Olise, Palace have no injuries to deal with and will be available with their full squad to welcome Arsenal on matchday 2.

Lineups

Mikel Arteta is unlikely to keep the same starting XI that took on Nottingham Forest on opening day of the 2023/24 season.

The injury suffered by Timber could affect the makeup of the defence, however. Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhães will come in for the injured Dutchman. This will see Ben White shift to the right-back role and one of Oleksandr Zinchenko or Takehiro Tomiyasu occupy the left side of defence.

The midfield will be Arteta’s biggest headache for this match. New signing Declan Rice started the Gunners’ opening game of the season in the place of Thomas Partey who started in defence for Arsenal.

Arsenal: Ramsdale; White, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko; Partey, Ødegaard, Havertz; Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli.

Crystal Palace do not look too different from how they have looked in the last few seasons. The biggest change is Wilfried Zaha who is now at Turkish Super Lig side Galatasaray.

The new attack of the Eagles according to Roy Hodgson’s selection on opening day is Jeff Schlupp, Ebere Eze and Jordan Ayew who play behind Odsonne Edouard. They are all likely to keep their positions in the squad as they prepare to welcome Arsenal on 21 August.

Palace fans can also expect a similar lineup to their opening-day XI against Arsenal because the players in that team look to be the Eagles strongest XI on paper. They will hope to be able to involve Ebere Eze more so that the England international can open his account and provide the spark he did last season in the absence of Wilfried Zaha.

Crystal Palace: Johnstone; Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, Ward; Doucoure, Lerma; Schlupp, Eze, Ayew; Edouaurd.

Prediction

Arsenal are on the right path in their bid to usurp Manchester City to the 2023/24 Premier League title.

After beating the Cityzens in the FA Community Shield and seeing Nottingham Forest off in their opening league fixture, they are looking to mark another London Derby with a victory when they make the trip to Selhurst Park.

Palace, meanwhile, are hoping to do better than they did away to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in their first home game of the season in front of their home fans.

Arsenal will dominate the opening stages of the match and create chances that will lead to goals in the first half. The problem will be in keeping up with the momentum of their hosts who will also be fighting back for the three points.

Palace, however, will lose narrowly in front of their home fans as the Gunners will take all three points from their second league game of the new season.

Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal.

(but hopefully 2-1 Palace)