Arsenal take on Crystal Palace in midweek and at the weekend in both the League Cup and Premier League as the fixture schedule has thrown up one of its chaotic gems. The two London clubs have been drawn to play one another at the Emirates Stadium in this week’s quarter-final.
The Carabao Cup stands as an opportunity for Mikel Arteta to potentially pick up some silverware that has been lacking from these past few years. With no Manchester City or Chelsea, Liverpool remain favourites in front of Arsenal, especially with their tie against bottom-of-the-league Southampton, whereas Tottenham host Manchester United and Brentford travel to Newcastle.
For Arsenal though, they face a spirited Palace team whose dire start to the campaign has recently seen a revival as Oliver Glasner has found a way to finally get a tune from his team. An away win at Brighton followed a 2-2 draw with Manchester City where they led twice, an away win at Ipswich, a stalemate with Newcastle and Aston Villa plus a couple weeks prior a win over Spurs.
In that time though, and in the win over Aston Villa in the fourth round, Daniel Munoz has managed to achieve something rather special but certainly not good for his side. He was booked in the second round and fourth rounds meaning he has earned a suspension for the quarter-final match with Arsenal.
While this past weekend win on the South Coast, Munoz received his fifth booking in the Premier League. This of course means that will be suspended for the next league match which happens to again be against Arsenal.
Munoz has been a very solid player for the Eagles, scoring twice and assisting twice in his opening 19 games of the season following a January move to south London from KRC Genk. At 28 he is not a young player but one of the club’s more senior figures in what remains a relatively younger side.
Palace will still have their star forwards like Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ebere Eze and Ismaila Sarr who scored a brace at the weekend. It is likely that another senior head, 33-year-old Nathaniel Clyne, will play in the right wing-back role.
It will be Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard’s job to try and exploit the Palace right flank. Although both have come in for some scrutiny of late with even Thierry Henry taking a particular critique of Martinelli to the Sky Sports Monday Night show this week.
Arteta will hope that his players will respond to the tricky run they have endured these past couple of months. Progressing to a cup semi-final would definitely provide some motivation ahead of the Christmas fixtures.