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Winning the Carabao Cup won’t quieten those who make fun of Mikel Arteta’s lack of silverware since he took over at Arsenal.
But victory in this competition could be a marker; a springboard to much bigger things.
Arsenal are flying in the Champions League after six wins out of six and ensured they’d be top of the Premier League at Christmas after digging out a 1-0 win over Everton at the weekend.
This tie was delayed from last week to avoid a fixture pile-up and it means the semi-final draw has already taken place. The winners here will play Chelsea in the last four.
Crystal Palace took advantage of an ailing and understrength Liverpool to book their quarter-final spot.
That impressive 3-0 victory sparked a run of seven wins in 10 matches but they’ve hit a sticky patch in recent times.
The Eagles lost 3-0 at home to Manchester City despite playing well but were held 2-2 by Finnish side KuPS to miss out on direct qualification to the UEFA Conference League quarter-finals and then made 11 changes for the weekend trip to Elland Road where they were thumped 4-1 by Leeds United.
How to watch Arsenal v Crystal Palace
Arsenal v Crystal Palace kicks off at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday, December 23 at the Emirates.
The game will be shown live on Sky Sports Football, ITVX and ITV 1, with coverage starting from 7pm.
BBC Radio 5 Live will provide full match commentary.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal still have a list of absentees in defence with Gabriel, Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera all set to miss out again.
Areta still can’t call on the services of Kai Havertz as the Gunners embark on a trio of home games – this one, followed by the visits of Brighton (27th) and Aston Villa (30th).
Gabriel Jesus scored a hat-trick when these two also locked horns in the last eight last season and the Brazilian could get the nod again after his recent return from injury.
Expect Arsenal to rotate, meaning likely starts for midfielder Christian Norgaard, left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Arsenal expected line-up
(4-3-3) Kepa; Timber, Saliba, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly; Norgaard, Eze, Merino; Martinelli, Jesus, Madueke.
Crystal Palace team news
Ismaila Sarr scored twice at Anfield in the last round but he won’t be available here after being called up for AFCON duty.
Wing-back Daniel Munoz remains absent with a knee injury while Japanese Daichi Kamada is also on the treatment table.
Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick for Arsenal at this stage of the tournament in 2021/22 and, given his superb record in the Carabao Cup, may start in attack for Palace at the expense of Jean-Philippe Mateta, who has been playing through the pain of a knee injury.
Crystal Palace expected line-up
(3-4-2-1) Benitez; Guehi, Lacroix, Canvot; Wharton, Hughes, Lerma, Sosa; Pino, Devenny; Nketiah.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace stats
– Arsenal have won seven of their last eight meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions (D1), already beating the Eagles 1-0 in the Premier League this term.
– Crystal Palace eliminated Arsenal in the 1970-71 League Cup, but have since lost all three of their meetings with the Gunners in the competition (both legs of the 1992-93 semi-final, last season’s quarter-final).
– Arsenal have won their last two League Cup quarter-final ties, including a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace at this stage last season.
– Crystal Palace have reached the League Cup quarter-finals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1991-92/1992-93, losing 3-2 at this stage to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last term.
– Arsenal beat Brighton 2-0 in the fourth round of this season’s League Cup – they’ve not won consecutive games against fellow Premier League sides in the competition since a run of three in the 2010-11 campaign (vs Tottenham, Newcastle and Wigan).
– Crystal Palace beat reigning Premier League champions Liverpool in the last round of the League Cup – the only team to eliminate both of the previous season’s top two in a single campaign are West Ham United in 2021-22 (Man City and Man Utd).
– Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri has scored four goals in his five starts in the League Cup. Since the start of last season, only Diego Gómez and Cody Gakpo (5 each) have scored more in the competition than the 18-year-old.
– Since Eddie Nketiah’s League Cup debut in October 2017, no player has scored more goals in the competition than the Crystal Palace forward (13).
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace predictions
Arsenal haven’t won the Carabao Cup since 1993 which is hard to fathom given how other top teams have repeatedly landed this trophy.
But their recent dominance of Crystal Palace – seven wins in the last eight head-to-heads – combined with current form and key players missing for the visitors suggest they can take another step closer to ending that 33-year drought.
Palace are having a strong season and showed how dangerous they can be in one-off ties by winning the FA Cup last May but their squad is being stretched thin right now and this might just be a challenge too far.
Arsenal have taken 22 points out of 24 at home in the Premier League this term and conceded just three goals in the process.
The 8/15 for the Gunners hardly gets the pulse racing but it’s fair to expect a number of changes from Arteta and throwing different players in together can often mean a lack of rhythm early on.
Therefore, there’s scope to back the game to be level at the break before the Gunners find some fluidity and kick on in the second half.
The Draw/Arsenal option in the HT/FT market pays 10/3.
Gabriel Martinelli has six goals in his last 16 for Arsenal so is worth a play at 13/5 in the anytime scorer market.