And so to the Stadium of Stone for a quarter-final encounter with Crystal Palace in the current iteration of the Milk/Littlewoods/Rumbelows/Coca-Cola/Worthington/Carling/Capital One/Carabao Cup.
A league cup tie with Palace with a league game to come a few days later? It must be 1970.
On October 28th that year, we drew 0-0 at Selhurst Park in the Round of Sixteen in what was our fourth-ever game against Palace (they had only been promoted to the old First Division for the first time the previous season and the only other fixture had been an FA Cup tie in 1934). However, we lost the replay 2-0 at Highbury on November 9th, a shock made the worse as it was our first home defeat in 22 games. Five days later, we drew 1-1 in the league at Highbury.
Venerable ‘holics may have been at some or all of those games more than half a century ago. By most accounts, the League Cup loss was the most frustrating because we dominated the game but could not find a goal (does this sound familiar?). Palace had a half-chance and a dodgy penalty. They scored both.
Gerry Queen, a Glaswegian of modest playing achievement in his homeland and England but who subsequently found success coaching in the southern United States, converted the half chance, a tap-in after Bob Wilson had made a fine save from Jim Scott. The penalty came after Queen clattered Wilson for the nth time. There were some handbags involving John Roberts, for which referee Norman Burtenshaw chose to penalise the Welshman and ignore the initial foul on Wilson (plus ça change!). Bobby Tambling stuck home the spot kick.
‘Arsenal ran themselves to the edge of exhaustion in a bid to break down the Palace defence,’ wrote Norman Giller in the Daily Express. ‘But their scoring chances disappeared in a maze of their own making.’
The league game was wash, rinse, repeat. Raddy scored after 16 minutes. Palace got a smash-and-grab equaliser almost immediately. They then held out for the draw despite our constant pressure. ‘It wasn’t Arsenal’s day,’ wrote Danny Blanchflower in the Sunday Express uncharacteristically prosaically. This is all starting to sound horribly contemporary.
In those days, Palace wore claret shirts with thin, blue vertical stripes and white shorts and were nicknamed ‘The Glaziers’. The following season, they switched to an Ajax-like all-white strip with a broad stripe down the middle of the shirt, but in Palace’s case, the stripe was half blue and half red. Since you ask, Ajax’s design came about when the club was first promoted to the Dutch top flight. The league had a rule that no two clubs could have the same strip, so Ajax had to find an alternative to their red and white stripes.
Palace’s sartorial Dutch dalliance would be short-lived. With the arrival of the colourful, fedora-wearing, cigar-chomping Big Mal Allison as manager in 1973, they changed strip again to red and blue stripes with blue shorts. They also became The Eagles (not the Hotel California kind, obviously).
The opposition
This is Palace’s twelfth consecutive season in the Premier League, never finishing higher than tenth (last season and 2014-15) or lower than 15th (2015-16), coincidentally the position they now occupy.
Oliver Glasner replaced Woy in the Palace dugout in February. Hodgson had been drafted in for a second stint in charge after Palace sacked our very own Paddy Vieira, who had succeeded Woy at the end of his first stint. The Austrian arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt (also nicknamed the Eagles, as it happens) and justified his reputation for revitalising struggling sides. Six wins in their final seven games took Palace to their best-ever Premier League points haul.
This season has been more arduous going. Glasner’s switch to a back three from Hodgson’s favoured back four has been hampered by injuries and a disciplinary freezing out of Capitola Rob, who now trains with the Under-21s. However, he might struggle to break into a back line of Marc Guehi, Trevor Chalobah and Maxence Lacroix, a summer arrival from Wolfsburg.
They line up in front of Dean Henderson, preferred to another of our old boys, Matt Turner. Starlet DM Adam Wharton may be back after a groin problem, while Cheick Doucoure has also been working his way back from injury. Tyrick Mitchell, Jefferson Lerma, Will Hughes and Colombian international Daniel Munoz have been manning the midfield in their absence. However, Munoz misses this match because of suspension. Nathaniel Clyne or Jeffrey Schlupp will replace him.
The stardust in Glasner’s preferred 3-4-2-1 is in attack: Eberechi Eze, Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Phiippe Mateta. The late blossoming Frenchman is the top scorer this season with four, despite platooning with another of our old boys, Eddie Nketiah, who is also working his way back from injury.
I expect Glasner to play as strong a side as he has available. The League Cup may be Palace’s best chance of silverware this season. They have beaten Norwich, QPR and Villa so far. In the last round at Villa Park, Glasner fielded a full-strength team against a Villa side that was also pretty near full-strength. Goals from Eze and Japanese international midfielder Daichi Kamada, who had played for Glasner at Frankfurt, put Palace into the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Although Villa dominated possession, Palace comfortably contained them, wherein lies a warning for us.
Palace’s weekend victory at Brighton means they have lost only once in their past eight league matches. They are starting to climb clear of the relegation zone as their injury list clears. That will boost their confidence for Wednesday evening.
The Arsenal
Arteta has a selection dilemma. He needs to revitalise a team that spent 90 minutes on Saturday banging its head against the brick wall that is a Sean Dyche defence. Given the attacking talent at their disposal, I don’t expect Palace to be as defensively obdurate, but I do expect them to play a counter-attacking game. At the same time, Arteta needs to rest and rotate ahead of the helter-skelter of league fixtures over the holiday period, when we cannot afford to drop more points.
I write this before getting Arteta’s pre-match injury update, but I assume neither Zinchenko nor Calafirori will be fit enough to start. Regardless of whether Rice is or not, resting him seems essential. We won’t win anything if he cannot last more than 60 minutes in games.
If the past is prologue, Arteta will load the team with the lesser played and stack the bench with thoroughbreds in case the cavalry is needed late on. Nonetheless, Palace’s attacking prowess probably predicates a strong defence. Neither Saliba nor Gabriel will be rested unless injury necessitates it. Kiwior would then come in. Of the youngsters, Josh Nichols, Josh Robinson, Ayden Heaven and Zane Monlouis played for the U-21s in Sunderland on Monday, suggesting they won’t be involved against Palace. Setford, who will be needed as Neto is cup-tied, didn’t travel north. Thus:
Setford
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel/Kiwior, MLS
Nwaneri, Jorghino, Merino
Sterling, Jesus, Trossard.
In other circumstances, playing a predominantly second string and bowing out of the competition ahead of a busy holiday run of games would not be the worst outcome. That said, we could use a win. No team wants to get into a rut of not winning. Plus, a win brings a semi-final, and the opportunity for silverware draws closer. Winning something, even the League Cup, would do this team a power of good.
I’d be happy to scrape through 2-1. Unlike in 1970, there will be no replay; if the scores are level after 90 minutes, it will be straight to penalties.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.
I think it best if we keep an eye on Daichi Kamada, who sounds suspiciously a lot like a cross between a Daikon radish and a Komodo Dragon which does not sound like a combination with which to be messed.
Thanks for your excellent preview and historical tidbits, Ned. 😄
Thanks Ned, a sterling job as ever 😉
Gerry Queen reminded me of the Evening Standard headline “Queen sent off at Palace”,
which I guess got quite a few to buy the paper that day.
Free hit for me, unlike the weekend when we must have the three points.
Still, it’s good to win games as you say.
You were quite right about no Zin, no Calafiori Ned. Rice is fit apparently.
I expect to see KT3 at some stage but maybe as a sub is wiser.
Ned,
Terrific preview as ever .
I saw all three of those Palace games in 1970 . I stood with my mate who is a huge Palace fan and who I saw today, as it happens, for lunch. The first game was a tight 0-0. The second game was one of those where we dominated the game but were never going to win. The penalty was given when the ball was in the Palace area . Burtenshaw looked back and saw Roberts push Queen 80 yards away . The third game was frustrating. Palace had worked out a way to counter the long ball to Radford and Kennedy and the press suggested Arsenal only had one way to play and had run out of ideas. Sound familiar ?
I’m thinking that Arteta will play a stronger team than we might like but I think Sterling will play . I think we may scrape a win but it might get to penalties .
My friend is still a Palace fanatic and says he would happily lose tomorrow if they take a point on Saturday . He still kicks every ball and goes to as many games as he can. He went completely blind a year ago
Thanks for an excellent preview, Ned. I think your assessment of Arteta’s likely strategy for this game and team selection is accurate. The team needs to get back on the winning trail and this is a quarter final after all so I expect a pretty strong team will start. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was stronger than the one you predict, with certain of our key players starting with the aim of early baths once a win is secured.
Gerry Queen! There’s a name from the mists of time. I never saw him play but he was a regular Scottish voice on the early editions of Question of Sport because presumably he was articulate and media friendly. I also remember that Palace shirt with the blue pin stripes which I thought was rather smart. Weren’t they dubbed ‘the team of the seventies’ at one point?
If Sterling doesn’t get a start in this game, his future is extremely bleak but that’s not our problem apart from the £100k per week for a bench warmer.
It was the team of the eighties Bath, Kenny Sansom and all.
https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/2260585f-1365-46e4-ae0c-54bace345266.jpg?width=1920&height=1920&format=webp
Thanks Ned,
Gotta love those old muddy goalmouths.
2-0 to the Arse whoever plays.
UTA.
Thanks for the correction, Matt and the photograph. Is that our very own Gorgeous George standing two along from El Tel?
Yes, I think it is indeed, he was a youth team coach at Palace in 1980.
I think Peter Nicholas was there then but I couldn’t be sure which one
from amongst the many amazing haircuts
Thanks Nedfor a great preview. I’m off to the game later tonight. No doubt I will find that many of my usual North Banks pals are not there – it’s always a different crowd for the league cup.
I’m unambiguous about what I want – I want to win every competition we’re in. So win tonight and win against them on Saturday. Be interesting to see how many changes Palace make.
Ned, I don’t know how long these previews take you but there are layers of research and history, as usual, and these things are not easy to write and make readable and interesting. However, you’ve done it again, thank you !
I think at this stage we should try to win this trophy. Winning breeds winning and with the fitness levels in our squad it is folly to try to second guess who will be fit for which games and competitions. This team could really do with getting one over the line so, for me, it’s your best available team, one game at the time. We do have a couple of 6 day intervals coming up so hopefully some of our recovering players will achieve a better fitness level without the strain of competition every 72 hours or so.
Bath @8 – I’m sure it is. They were best mates anyway.
Even though dot com doesn’t say so, the game is live on Sky Sports – so good for UK TV and presumably stream hunters.
Are we in it to win it? I think so, and always have had that feeling under Arteta. I always thought that when Wenger played down the League Cup that some of our best chances at success were pulled away from underneath us in a misjudged act of harikari, or something to that effect.
Winning the League Cup this, or any year, would give me cause for celebration I can tell you.
Cheers Ned!
Apparently – Tierney and Sterling both starting!
Arsenal XI vs Palace tonight: Raya, Partey, Timber, Kiwior, Tierney, Merino, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus, Trossard.
Arsenal: Raya, Partey, Timber, Kiwior, Tierney, Jorginho, Merino, Nwaneri, Sterling, Trossard, Jesus
Subs: Setford, Saliba, Gabriel, Kacurri, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli
Hmm. A heavily rotated team. And Palace have gone strong. Could be an interesting night.
Thanks Ned for a great preview, recalling the time when Palace had their moment in the sun under the “guidance” of El Tel.
We have a very makeshift defence ( in terms of playing together ) whilst Palace h@ve their strongest available Xl on the pitch – it should be an interesting encounter. No doubt Eze will be out to show how accomplished he had become since leaving our junior ranks
( and auctioning for a return ). We have had good success with out major purchases from Palace in then past ( Kenny Sansom & Ian Wright to name 2 and there is reputed interest in their English midfielder Ad@m Wharton – he would fit right in as he appears to be permanently injured.
Let’s go for it – we c@n win this with the right application.
COYRRR
Weakened team selected and a route 1 goal conceded inside five minutes. Are we in it to win it after all?
Different personnel but still the same old cooking. Ball movement far too slow. Player movement pedestrian. It’s not looking promising at the moment.
Only seem the goals but Jesus with a nice hat trick, pleased for him (and us!) and he finished exceptionally well.
Changes from MA did the trick it seems and on we go
I think we answered the are we in it to win it question.
Curious how KT3 played after a long absence
Didn’t see the game but what a pity to miss the second half. Are we going to Wembrrlee??
Reason to celebrate already.
A lot better in the second half, a well deserved win. Eddie’s goal probably best he’ll score all season.
Always rated Jesus 🥰
Our second half subs changed the game. Primarily, Ødegaard adding vision and through balls but the shift of Timber to RB added considerably to our right sided threat before Saka proved unsurprisingly to be an upgrade on Sterling. Jesùs took his chances well and the absence of VAR was a blessing for his first.
Nice to see KT3 belting down the wing and putting in his usual excellent balls but it was unsurprising to see him pull up after 65 minutes and hobble off. He’s declined a contract extension so that may be his swansong.
It seems that it was he club that decided not to take up the option of extending KT3’s contract by 12 months rather than KT3 declining to sign (£):
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6004384/2024/12/18/kieran-tierney-arsenal-contract/
Seems sensible.
Genuinely pleased for Jesus and Sterling produced some good moments . I thought KT3 did ok but we were pedestrian until Odegaard came on . C100 has Jesus as a concern and I have Kiwior – is he Mustafi in disguise ? The Mateta goal made grim viewing
So glad I went tonight. After the grim first ten minutes that game was a lot of fun. Nice to see all three goals being score in front of us in the North Bank. Jesus filled with confidence.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>