Home comforts: Arsenal are unbeaten at the Emirates Stadium this season
A second game in the space of three days sees Arsenal face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final. This showdown is taking place tonight instead of the original scheduled dates for this season’s last-eight ties primarly because Palace had Conference League commitments last week which caused scheduling issues.
Ultimately the EFL have selected two days before Christmas for the rearranged London derby where the winners will meet Chelsea across two legs in the Carabao Cup semi-final. Despite a place in the last-four being at stake, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is expected to rotate his side with Eberechi Eze pushing to start against his former club along with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Noni Madueke and Ethan Nwaneri.
Similarly, Oliver Glasner will look to freshen things up where possible amid a selection crisis for the Eagles in what is a third game in less than a week for his side. Follow Arsenal vs Crystal Palace LIVE below with Standard Sport's dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Sam Tabuteau at the Emirates Stadium!
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace latest news
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Eberechi Eze scored the winner against his former club in the Premier League meeting between the two sides earlier in the season.
Interestingly, this was a quarter-final tie last season with Gabriel Jesus netting a hat-trick in a 3-2 win for Arsenal.
Arsenal wins: 36
Crystal Palace wins: 6
Draws: 17
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Score prediction
The demands of an intense festive period already look to be catching up with Arsenal somewhat. They were far from their best last time out against Everton, and very nearly dropped points against an abject Wolves side the week before.
But, in spite of a dip in form, they still find ways to win.
With a two-legged semi-final bout with Chelsea serving as a proverbial carrot on a stick, they should have no shortage of motivation or quality to get the better of Glasner’s beleaguered Eagles.
Arsenal to win, 2-0
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Crystal Palace team news
Crystal Palace will be without Ismaila Sarr who is away on international duty with Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Furthermore, key players Daniel Munoz and Daichi Kamada will both be out for a matter of months with knee and hamstring problems respectively.
Eddie Nketiah, however, is pushing to start against his former club.
Arsenal team news
Mikel Arteta is not in a position to welcome back any of his injured stars which means Gabriel, Kai Havertz, Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White and Max Dowman will play no part in tonight's cup tie.
However, the Arsenal boss is expected to give minutes to the likes of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian Norgaard, Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Jesus.
TV channel: In the UK, the game will be televised live on Sky Sports and ITV.
Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Main Event and ITV 1 will launch their coverage at 7.30pm GMT ahead of the 8pm kick-off.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Sky Go app and website. The match will also be broadcast online, for FREE via ITVX.
Live blog: You can follow all the action right here via Standard Sport’s live blog, with expert analysis from Sam Tabuteau at the ground.
Hello and welcome to Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of Arsenal vs Crystal Palace!
It's a case of better late than never as this season's Carabao Cup semi-final picture will be finalised after the outcome of tonight's rearranged quarter-final tie.
Will it be Arsenal or Palace progressing to face Chelsea in the last-four?
We’ll have all the latest updates, build-up and team news right here ahead of kick-off, which comes at 8pm GMT from the Emirates Stadium. Stick with us!