The early kick-off tomorrow sees us travel to Crystal Palace to take on a side that currently sits one place and one point ahead of us. None of us had hoped to find ourselves in tenth position at this stage of the season but such has been the upturn since Mikel Arteta\u2019s arrival that it now seems more appropriate to look at the teams above us and wonder who we might leapfrog than to look down the league at who will soon be overtaking us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, a generally positive feeling around the club and some improved performances are not enough to transform us back into the teams of old that would head off to Palace expecting to get a win. We still have a lot of work to do this season and beyond. Hopefully this weekend we can grab some points, goals and confidence to bring back north of the river as we need some results if we are to head back up the table. But the quality of our performance is also something the manager and fans alike will be watching carefully. There have been a lot of individual improvements, I cannot think of a single player who does not look better, as well as the team shape and work ethic being drastically improved. If we keep this up tomorrow then we give ourselves a decent chance of a result. Did the scare against Leeds help convince our lads of the importance of maintaining their work-rate and desire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have Chambers and Tierney both unavailable for a while yet and Hector Bellerin is back in light training but not ready to return to the first team. Aubameyang did not feature at all in Monday night\u2019s FA Cup win so presumably he will be straight back in the side. It was the home game against Crystal Palace this season that saw the awful behaviour from Granit Xhaka that, until recently, looked like it had precipitated his January departure from these shores. However Arteta has rehabilitated him sufficiently that I would expect him to partner Torreira in the centre of our midfield. Personally I hope he leaves in the summer but whilst he is in the middle of the park for us I hope he plays with the confidence of the Man Utd game, not the Xhakaness of the first half against Leeds. It appears that Kolasinac will be okay to play at left-back but Saka had recovered from a minor knock to come on at Leeds so will be a surprisingly capable understudy if called upon. Martinelli and Reiss Nelson will both be hoping for a run out, the latter will have eyes on a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palace apparently have most of their player injured so their lineup will probably be ten blokes plus Zaha. The same as every week then. They are well-drilled and hard-working under Hodgson and, as ever in the Premier League, we can expect a tough game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A guess at our line-up: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leno
AMN, Sokratis, Luiz, Kola
Torreira, Xhaka,
Pepe, Ozil, Auba
Laca<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite a note of warning that the players have to put in a shift I am unexpectedly confident that we will come away with three points. Therefore the inaugural Holics\u2019 pound is on 2-0 to the good guys, which I think the Guvnor would approve of. Expect our players to work hard and keep a lid on Zaha, who Arteta will be as aware as everyone else is Palace\u2019s main attacking threat. We will be fighting for a clean sheet and I expect us to continue our improvements further up the pitch with a couple more goals. I think we might also see Laca rejoin the goalscoring party. After some hard-working displays that have helped his team it is about time he finished a chance off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the best to all those travelling to the game and of course to the rest who will be in front of screens in various locations around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, a reminder to all Holics that tomorrow would have been Dave\u2019s birthday. Make sure to raise a drink for him and cheer on our beloved Arsenal extra loud. Wherever he is right now he\u2019d love three points as a birthday present but, so used to taking Arsenal\u2019s varying fortunes in stride, I think he would be even happier to see all of us in here continuing his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheers Holic and Holics!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The early kick-off tomorrow sees us travel to Crystal Palace to take on a side that currently sits one place and one point ahead of us. None of us had hoped to find ourselves in tenth position at this stage of the season but such has been the upturn since Mikel Arteta\u2019s arrival that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}