Arsenal v Crystal Palace predictions: free betting tips and where to watch

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Arsenal v Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Thursday

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League, 8pm Thursday

Best bet

Arsenal & under 3.5 goals
1pt 11-10 Betfair, Paddy Power

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Team news

Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli is out. Centre-back Gabriel is fit and Thomas Partey could figure.

Crystal Palace
Jeffrey Schlupp and Mamadou Sakho are out. Gary Cahill and Scott Dann are doubts.

Match preview

Palace starlet Ebe Eze admitted he was left in tears when Arsenal rejected him as a kid and the Eagles flyer may not be feeling any cheerier on his return to the stage he'd one day hoped to grace.

Eze was only 13 when he was let go by the North London giants and would dearly love to give them a taste of what they missed out on – but this might not be that time.

While Palace go through a quiet patch the Gunners are going well, arguably not so well that they merit backing at skinny odds, but well enough that they are worth siding with somehow.

There's an obvious temptation to back goals since this fixture has been choked with them – except that neither side looks particularly great in front of goal at the moment, so backing Mikel Arteta's men in a game producing under four goals is suggested.

Fourteen of Arsenal's 17 matches this season have yielded three goals or fewer, and if you combine with the fact that they are starting to win games, there's logic behind the bet.

Arsenal are certainly confident and should feel even perkier with ace centre-back Gabriel fit and available. Arteta has turned to young guns like Emile Smith Rowe and Bakayo Saka and they have added an energy going forward that definitely wasn't evident earlier in the campaign.

Finally, belatedly, Arteta has his side looking better organised and while it would be unwise to overplay a 1-0 win at Brighton, where they were poor for a half, and a win over West Brom, who are poor full stop, the signs are bright.

Yes, they took forever to wear down Newcastle in the FA Cup but the Spaniard had made changes and plenty of sides have struggled to break down Steve Bruce's massed black-and-white barricades.

Palace are a funny side with the pace and power to take teams apart – such as Leeds and West Brom – but can be equally vulnerable themselves. The 7-0 home roasting by Liverpool was a difficult enough watch but worse came days later when they lost 3-0 to an Aston Villa side who played with ten men for 45 minutes.

You wonder sometimes if Roy Hodgson can get a tune out of his stars and that if he doesn't get a tune out of Zaha, what else is there?

A 2-0 win over Sheffield United ended a five-game winless run – and was a timely first clean sheet in 16 – and Hodgson made plenty of changes in the cup at Wolves where they lost 1-0 and didn't unload a single shot on target.

Key stat

Both teams have scored in each of the last six meetings between these teams.

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