Crystal Palace face a difficult task in Arsenal on Saturday at Selhurst Park and with the Eagles’ recent form in South London, a result against the Gunners could do us wonders after defeats against Liverpool and Everton in our last two home games. Those results didn’t come as too much of a shock but after the start that Alan Pardew had at the club, a number of fans may have got a little bit too far ahead of themselves in criticising the team’s recent form at Selhurst Park.
We weren’t at our best last weekend against Liverpool with the players sitting back after scoring the opening goal, a tactic that was never going to work against a Premier League side and in particular against a side with as much firepower and calibre as they hold. Selhurst has been a fortress for the club over a number of years, starting in the Championship, holding an unbeaten run for a significant amount of time and that followed the Eagles into the Premier League with memorable games last season at home for us; including a victory over Chelsea and a three goal comeback in the last ten minutes against Liverpool.
Alan Pardew has done wonders since he was appointed as manager at the start of January and we are currently in a position now that I never thought was possible this season based on the form we were going through under Neil Warnock – an appointment that was never going to work in my eyes but as the former Newcastle boss is slowly reaching his 10th game, this is a dream appointment.
We face a similar threat in Arsenal that we did with Liverpool on Saturday with players that can cause problems for our defence and with one of our newest signings Pape Souare adjusting to the fast pace of English football after arriving from France, I worry that he could fall victim once again to dribbles at him on the wing from a combination of players. He is a full-back to watch nonetheless going forward as he does carry a large amount of pace that can end up quite an asset in counter attacks, supporting the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon and of course our strikers.
There are a number of players that I’m concerned about and they include Olivier Giroud, Cazorla & Özil who have all equally been putting in great shifts for Wenger recently with the former really finding his form, creating chances out of anything he is given which can be quite threatening to any defence and with his goal rate falling significantly at the moment, I would be surprised if he didn’t score again on Saturday.
It will be a good game with both teams fighting until the bitter end – who will come out on top? It’s too hard to call.
