Next Saturday, 16th August 2014, Arsenal will take on their London’s neighbours, Crystal Palace, at the Emirates Stadium for the opening round of the English Premier League.

After their rampant win over the current EPL champions Manchester City last Sunday, Arsenal started the new season off on the right foot as they added another important trophy to the FA Cup they won last term. Their second biggest shareholder, the Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, seemed to predict such a good start from the Gunners, since he recently claimed that this season would be the beginning of new era at Arsenal’s history, during which they would start winning trophies once again.

Arsene Wenger’s men put up a fairly convincing performance against the Citizens last Sunday at Wembley, as they have managed to somehow control the match at their own will, especially during the first half when they passed the ball around beautifully. Arsenal have also benefited from some inspired displays from Santi Cazorla, who scored the opening goal, from the Frenchman Olivier Giroud, and from Aaron Ramsey, who acted as if he was bossing the midfield at his own will.

For next Saturday’s match against their London neighbours of Crystal Palace, Arsene Wenger will probably not implement any major changes in his team but he will certainly promote the return of Olivier Giroud to the Gunners’ starting line-up, to replace Sanogo.

As for Crystal Palace, they will certainly do everything within their grasp to try to refrain Arsenal’s enthusiasm next Saturday. Tony Pulis’ boys have been doing a quality comeback since the experienced Welsh manager arrived at the team back in November. The Eagles’ pre-season was marked by some inconsistency, as they have only managed to win three of the six matches they took part in. Although they didn’t sign a significant number of new players, Crystal Palace maintained their last season’s team structure and sometimes that’s what all it takes to have a calm and successful season.

The last time both sides measured forces at the Emirates Stadium was back in February and the Gunners won the match by 2-0 with two goals from Oxlade-Chamberlain. Next weekend, Arsenal once again have everything in their favour to claim another victory, particularly after the extra boost of confidence they received with their Community Shield win over a rusty Manchester City last Sunday.

Arsenal

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WLWLW

Crystal Palace

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DLWWD

Possible Line-ups

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) – Szczesny - Debuchy - Chambers - Koscielny - Gibbs - Arteta - Ramsey - Cazorla - Wilshere - Sánchez - Giroud

Crystal Palace (4-4-2) – Speroni - Ward - Delaney - Hageland - Mariappa - Jedinak - Guedioura - Puncheon - Bolasie - Chamakh - Campbell

Prediction

Arsenal 2 Crystal Palace 0