Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Prediction: Saka to open proceedings

Arsenal welcome Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday (19:30, Sky Sports Main Event) for their Carabao Cup quarter-final meeting. The Gunners were left frustrated at the weekend as they were held to a goalless draw here in the Premier League against strugglers Everton.

The Eagles head into this in high spirits after defeating rivals Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 on the South Coast on Sunday in the top flight. Below you will find my Arsenal vs Crystal Palace prediction, featuring the latest team news and match odds.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Odds

Arsenal are 4/11 to win this cup tie in 90 minutes, giving them an implied probability of 73.3%. This makes sense considering they are yet to be beaten on home soil this season. Crystal Palace are valued at 13/2 (13.3%) to change that, and two of their Carabao Cup wins so far have come on the road.

If you can see this tie going past regulation time, the draw is on offer at 16/5 (23.8%), which has happened in just three of Arsenal's eight league games at the Emirates this term.

Palace have scored in their last five away games in all competitions and both teams to score has landed in their last two cup victories, as well as their last two appearances in the league. BTTS is on offer at 1/1 for this clash.

Football Odds

Team News

Arsenal welcomed back Gabriel Magalhaes into their backline on Saturday, to resume his partnership with William Saliba. This partnership is yet to be utilised in this competition. Saliba partnered Jakub Kiwior in the round of 16 against Preston North End and the latter was joined by Riccardo Calafiori in the second round against Bolton Wanderers.

Calafiori remains out with a knee issue, so expect Saliba to partner Kiwior against the Eagles. Oleksandr Zinchenko was absent again at the weekend with a knock, so his participation in midweek once again looks doubtful. Ben White (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) remain sidelined for the hosts as Mikel Arteta's defensive options are limited at this moment in time.

Kieran Tierney was an unused substitute at the weekend so he could be in line to make his first appearance of the season against Palace, if Arteta decides on giving young Myles Lewis-Skelly a rest at left-back.

Goalkeeper Neto has featured in this competition once this term, but it is unknown if he or David Raya will get the nod to go between the sticks for this one. Thomas Partey and Jorginho will be pushing for places in the midfield here after being limited to spots on the bench against the Toffees.

Bukayo Saka is expected to maintain his place in the front three, while Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus could come in for Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz respectively.

For Palace, there is hope that midfielder Adam Wharton could be in line to make his first appearance since the last cup match against Aston Villa back in October. The youngster has had groin surgery but he could return to action soon.

Ahead of last weekend's game with Brighton, Palace boss Oliver Glasner said: "He had a little bit of a reaction after the Wednesday and Thursday training sessions. [They were] very intense sessions and he had a bit of a reaction, so we had to reduce his workload, so he won’t be available.

“It’s looking like nothing serious. Let’s see if he’s available for the Arsenal game in the week."

Glasner also confirmed that Matheus Franca is still in rehab from the groin injury he has since picked up after being out with a rib fracture towards the back end of last season.

Defender Joel Ward has been having issues with his calf and is unlikely to be involved on Wednesday. To date, he has made just one appearance this season and this came against Norwich City in the second round in what was an 11-minute cameo.

Arsenal and both teams to score @ 11/5

There have been plenty of offensive concerns for Arsenal in recent weeks and rightly so. So far this month, they are yet to score a Premier League goal from open play. We know they have a talent for profiting from set-pieces but at the moment it appears that they are too reliant on them.

Their struggles to open up Everton at the weekend got to the supporters, with some booing at the full-time whistle. For now, Arteta is taking the brunt of the frustration, as is Kai Havertz who is currently masquerading as a forward in the Gunners' system.

It's not his fault, the club have been in desperate need of a centre-forward for quite some time, and it is still yet to be addressed in the transfer market. There were links to former Brentford man Ivan Toney last winter, but those murmurs came to nought.

If these issues persist over the next two weeks, Arsenal may be forced to act in the January transfer window. Arteta still has a few games to navigate first and he will be desperate to restore fluidity to his side's attacking play.

He has the players to do it in Saka, Martin Odegaard, Trossard to name a few, but this again comes back to Arsenal's lack of squad depth in attacking areas, so the usual suspects are often relied upon game by game. If they wish to be persistently challenging for the league title as a minimum, they need the depth that their rivals can boast.

Anyway, back to the game. Arteta will feel pressured to deliver a convincing performance at home after what happened against the Toffees, and there will be an onus on his players to create more from open play.

While I'm not as confident with the latter part of that statement, I can see the Gunners getting the win in 90 minutes to send them through to the semi-finals. They are yet to be beaten at the Emirates, which immediately gives Palace a massive task on Wednesday.

The Eagles have been good away from home in the Carabao Cup with wins against Villa and Queens Park Rangers, but in the Premier League they've won just once on the road.

With that in mind, I think Arsenal will have enough quality to get the job done inside 90 minutes, but I do see Palace scoring after their three-goal display in Sussex at the weekend.

Bukayo Saka first goalscorer @ 7/2

Trying to find value in other markets for this clash has been tough, I must admit. So I've turned to the goalscoring offerings and I believe Arsenal's star man is the person to turn to on Wednesday.

I tipped him to score against Everton to no avail, but I think we could see a response from him against the Eagles. In nine career appearances against Palace, the England international has netted twice.

It's not the best return in the world but I still think there could be value in him finding the back of the net here. He was on target twice at the Emirates last week as the Gunners beat Monaco 3-0 in the Champions League.

Saturday would have been disappointing but he will still have some confidence heading into this. To better the odds, I'm going for him to open the scoring.

Offers

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