Arsenal vs Crystal Palace match thread

At this point, it goes without saying that Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace is a vital one for the Gunners. With only a handful of domestic matches left and the race for the top four still very close, the Gunners will need to take every point they can to keep distance between themselves and Manchester United and Chelsea while making up the minor gap between them and Tottenham.

Crystal Palace are 14th in the table and are secure from the dangers of relegation, but a far cry from qualifying for European competition. Their current seesaw form (LWLWL over the past five matches) is about what you’d expect from a mid table team, but Arsenal cannot look past them to the upcoming packed fixture list. With no FA Cup or European matches on their fixture list, Palace should be well rested and ready to throw everything they have at the Gunners.

Arsenal are fresh off of a successful trip to Italy that saw them make easy work of Napoli in the Europa League to get the Gunners through to the Semifinals. Their last Premier League match against Watford was a nervy 1-0 win, but the first shutout on the road of the season. With road wins few and far between for the Gunners, back to back wins away from the Emirates is a relief as the season draws to a close. Luckily for the Gunners, they will be hosting Crystal Palace at the Emirates, which has been a fortress for the Arsenal all season.

The Gunners will almost undoubtedly rotate their roster. With Sokratis unavailable after a yellow card accumulation ban, Dinos Mavropanos should see his second Premier League start of the season after a fair showing against Watford. After Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka suffered injuries against Napoli, Mohammed Elneny or Matteo Guendouzi could start in the pivot alongside Lucas Torreira.

WHAT: Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

WHEN: Sunday, April 22nd 11:00am EST/8:00am PST/4:00pm BST

WHERE: The Emirates

HOW TO WATCH: Sadly, this match is another NBC Gold affair for US viewers.

As always, keep it civil in the comments, and do not link to illegal match streaming sites, please and thank you.

COYG!

LINEUPS:

Arsenal:

Crystal Palace: