Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira may be forced to make changes ahead of the Eagles’ clash against his former club Arsenal on Monday night.
Take nothing away from Palace this season; these changes won’t be a knee-jerk reaction to their recent form. With three wins and two draws from their last five games in all competitions, the Eagles have hit form at an ideal time.
They have bagged nine goals in that time, although their ability to pick up points of late is not just down to their goalscoring acumen.
Vieira’s side have displayed incredible defensive stability, with their water-tight defence leaking just two goals over their last five outings. Impressively, during that run they faced the second-highest scorers in the league in Manchester City and came away with a point and a well-earned clean sheet.
Unfortunately for Palace fans, there are doubts over the talismanic duo of Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise after the pair picked up injuries whilst on international duty.
The Ivory Coast forward missed his nation’s friendly against England due to a hamstring problem, whilst the France under-21 starlet withdrew from international duty after suffering inflammation on his foot.
Although neither have trained since their respective returns from international duty, Vieira is optimistic that the pair could feature against Arsenal, with Eagles fans able to take solace in the 45-year-old’s positivity as the duo “still have a chance” of playing at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Here is how we think Palace XI will line up against the Gunners, in a 4-3-3 formation:
Guaita; Clyne, Andersen, Guéhi, Mitchell; Gallagher, Kouyaté, Schlupp; Ayew, Mateta, Édouard
If our prediction is accurate, the game on Monday will see Vieira make four changes from last time out as the Eagles look to capitalise on their good run of form.
Those changes could see the likes of Jack Butland, Eberechi Eze, Olise and Zaha – who all featured in Palace’s 4-0 demolition job against Everton in the FA Cup a fortnight ago – drop out. Vicente Guaita, Jeffrey Schlupp, Andre Ayew and Odsonne Edouard, who was hailed as a “special talent” by his former Celtic boss Neil Lennon – all coming in against Arsenal.
Whilst Zaha is Palace’s top scorer this season, perhaps the biggest miss will be the “fearless” Olise, who has asserted himself as one of the most creative outlets in the league, creating seven big chances and providing five assists this season.
In other news – Huge blow as Vieira dealt double setback ahead of Arsenal clash, supporters will be gutted