With European football still very much a possibility, Arsenal prepare for the penultimate fixture of their Premier League season against Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.
The Eagles soared to a 3-2 win over Aston Villa at the weekend, while the Gunners have had a week to recover from their 1-0 victory at London rivals Chelsea.
Match preview
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Amid speculation surrounding the futures of Roy Hodgson and a plethora of Palace players, the Eagles did not rest on their laurels with survival guaranteed, as they came out on the correct end of the scoreline in a five-goal thriller with Villa on Sunday.
Dean Smith's side were 2-1 up at half time thanks to goals from John McGinn and Anwar El Ghazi either side of Christian Benteke's header, but Palace turned it around in the second period as Wilfried Zaha's strike preceded Tyrick Mitchell's chested effort in the 84th minute at Selhurst Park.
With two wins from their last three Premier League outings, Palace are finishing the season with a flourish and occupy 13th spot in the table, but Hodgson's men can no longer push for a top-half finish and are only capable of finishing as high as 11th this season.
A final-day fixture at Liverpool awaits for the Eagles, so their chances of picking up more points before the campaign concludes are not exactly high, and they welcome Arsenal to Selhurst Park having shipped eight goals in their last three home games.
Only West Bromwich Albion (36) and Newcastle United (33) have conceded more goals on home soil than Palace (29) this term, and while Arsenal are not exactly renowned for any sort of penalty-box potency, a shaky and depleted Palace defence could offer them the opportunity to reignite their golden touch.
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Written off by many before a ball was kicked at Stamford Bridge, Mikel Arteta's new-look team put in a dogged performance to keep Chelsea at bay throughout the 90 minutes, and they were gifted a winner in the opening exchanges to break the Blues' resistance on home soil.
Jorginho was forced into making an error under pressure from Emile Smith Rowe, and the Italy international so nearly witnessed the ball trickle over his own goal-line had it not been for the heroics of Kepa Arrizabalaga, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on hand to set up Smith Rowe for the game's only goal in the 16th minute.
With West Ham United and Everton both faltering in their pursuits of European football, Arsenal have taken advantage with three Premier League wins on the trot, and the ninth-placed Gunners are now four points adrift of a top-seven place with two games remaining.
Liverpool are the only other team in the division to have taken nine points from the last nine on offer, and Arsenal are still reliant on others slipping up if their 25-year stint on the continental stage is to continue, but Arteta's men at least appear to be ending the season strongly, even if it does turn out to be too little too late.
Furthermore, the Gunners travel to Selhurst Park on a six-game unbeaten streak away from home in the Premier League, scoring 13 goals in that time, but they were held to a goalless stalemate by the Eagles back in January - their fifth game in a row without a win against their capital rivals.
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Team News
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Palace boss Hodgson revealed that Patrick van Aanholt and Luka Milivojevic both missed the win over Villa due to family reasons, so it remains to be seen if the duo will come back in time for Wednesday.
However, Mitchell is in no danger of losing his place at left-back following his unorthodox winner last time out, while Jairo Riedewald could be recalled to the midfield over the fit-again James McCarthy.
Jack Butland made his Premier League debut for the Eagles against Villa, but Hodgson has hinted at a recall for Vicente Guaita this weekend, while Nathaniel Clyne's availability is uncertain due to a bout of sickness.
Arsenal's have three injury concerns in the form of David Luiz and Hector Bellerin - both of whom are unavailable - while Granit Xhaka faces a late fitness test.
Arteta's three-man defence worked wonders at Stamford Bridge but he will surely revert to a back four here, with Gabriel Magalhaes potentially being the unlucky one to drop out.
Calum Chambers could return at right-back after Bukayo Saka struggled in a wing-back role against Chelsea, allowing the attacker to venture further up the pitch in support of Aubameyang.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Ward, Kouyate, Dann, Mitchell; Ayew, Riedewald, Schlupp, Eze; Zaha, Benteke
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Leno; Chambers, Holding, Mari, Tierney; Partey, Elneny; Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Aubameyang
We say: Crystal Palace 1-3 Arsenal
Arsenal would be making a fatal mistake if they were to underestimate Palace, but their record on the road should help them see out a routine victory at Selhurst Park.
Results elsewhere could either boost their chances of European football or consign them to a rare season with no continental competition, but we are backing them to march to a fourth successive top-flight win here either way.
Top tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Arsenal win with a probability of 64.9%. A draw had a probability of 20.6% and a win for Crystal Palace had a probability of 14.53%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.91%) and 1-2 (9.78%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.79%), while for a Crystal Palace win it was 1-0 (4.9%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 6.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Arsenal would win this match.
