On Monday evening we resume our league programme after the interlull and begin the run-in to the end of the season. It is a crucial period which could end in our regaining a place in the Champions League or at its worst may consign us to a place in the Europa Conference League. If we finish lower than that we will have experienced a major meltdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are well-placed, already in fourth place with games in hand on our main rivals Tottnumb and ManUre with WetSpam below them and preoccupied by a place in the last eight of the Europa League. We have to play all of these sides in the run-in, two of them away and there is no cause for any complacency if we are to finish the season well. Our last result was a very encouraging and deserved win at Aston Villa where our defensive performance and general control of the match in a tense atmosphere was very reassuring. Palace\u2019s recent form has shown a very definite uptick with comfortable wins against Watford and Wolves away and a very impressive 0-0 draw at home to Citeh, the team from the blue half of Manchester. Their last defeat saw them succumb to a last minute goal from Ziyech of Chelski. This indicates how tough they currently are to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crystal Palace come into the game on Monday in disturbingly good heart. Their last game saw them trounce Everton 4-0 in the sixth round of the FA Cup and a Semi-Final at Wembley against the Chavs awaits. I have several friends who are Palace fans and this forthcoming semi is very much their preoccupation. One mate was giving me fearful stick at the start of the season and I had to remind him that his club have never won a major trophy unless you count the Zenith Data Systems Cup over thirty years ago. They\u2019ve never played in Europe although they\u2019ve come close to winning the FA Cup on two occasions, both of which saw them matched with the team from the red half of Manchester and Truro, Ipswich, Bridgewater and Shoreham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a fixture I have attended regularly for years. The first match report of the new GHF website, was if you remember, an account of our 1-1 draw in January 2020, where Aubameyang scored early and then was sent off in the second half. A deflected Ayew shot tied the game up but we defended manfully to secure a point. I referred to the game as \u2018Life through an Arsenal letterbox\u2019 because the view from the Arthur Wait stand is restricted (severely) and any balls going high into the air disappear from view. Visiting Selhurst Park is like entering a time warp which takes you back to the seventies. The ground is primitive and desperately in need of upgrading, there are still majorettes (remember them?) welcoming teams onto the field, which Palace enter to the strains of \u2018Glad All Over\u2019 while an eagle flies around the pitch. The crowd are noisy, enthusiastic and the place tends to jump when Palace do well. It can be a tough place to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of pre-game publicity suggests Selhurst is an unlucky venue for Arsenal. I saw us lose 3-0 in 2017, but that was our only defeat there since November 1979 and those two defeats are the only two we have suffered there. We\u2019ve lost more at home to them most painfully the 3-2 defeat which cost us Champions League qualification under Unai Emery when Mustafi produced one of his most catastrophic performances. In recent seasons no game at the Palace has ever been as easy as the 5-1 victory on our first league visit in 1969, when it was very hard to contain my excitement surrounded by Palace fans! We did win 3-1 last season with late goals from Martinelli and Pepe clinching victory. Zaha is a perennial thorn in our side as is Benteke and in the home match this season we snatched a late draw in the infamous match where Mike Dean failed to punish a blatant kick on Saka by McArthur with a red card.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>