It’s hard to back against Arsenal at the moment. I was really impressed by the Gunners in their 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid during the week. I’ve not seen many sides do that to Diego Simeone’s side, so it was a really impressive performance, which is reflected in the underlying numbers, which confirm Arsenal’s dominance in the encounter.

That victory stretches their current winning run to six wins across all competitions. Arsenal’s only defeat so far this season remains their 1-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield; aside from that result, only Manchester City have been able to take points off the Gunners.

Palace have gone from being unbeaten in their last 19 matches to losing two of their last three. They fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat at the hands of Larnaca in the Conference League during the week following a defeat against Everton and a draw against the Cherries.

I did think that Palace would struggle in the games they had following a European match, as their squad isn’t the deepest, and that should prove true here. Arsenal have more depth in the side, so they can rotate and rest players, which isn’t really a luxury that Palace have at the moment, and I think this will be a key difference in this game.

These two sides topped the rankings for goals from corners last season, so we can expect them to play a big role in this game. Arsenal have already scored eight goals from corners in the Premier League. For context, these goals represent 53% of the total goals that Arsenal have scored in the Premier League this season.

Arsenal have taken more corners than any other side in the Premier League this season (63 - 7.8 per game). This is 14 corners more than the next closest side, which is Newcastle with 49 corners so far this term. Palace’s away matches in the Premier League this season are producing 11.50 match corners per game, with it being particularly notable that Palace are conceding more corners than any other side on the road so far this season (7.75 per game).

The most recent meeting between these sides produced nine match corners, just one short of the line we require here. Given Arsenal’s dominance when it comes to corners in the Premier League this season, I can see plenty of these set-piece situations, which both sides have been so effective at over the last few seasons.

Saka has had a shot on target in four of his last five Premier League appearances. Arsenal are flying at the moment with five straight wins across all competitions, the most eye-catching being their 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, where Saka found the target once from five shots.

Saka has had 11 shots across his six Premier League appearances this season (2.26 per 90) with four of these attempts finding the target (0.82 per 90). I’d expect this average to increase over the coming weeks as he gets a more consistent run in the side, with the early parts of his campaign disrupted by injury.

Saka averaged 1.19 shots on target per 90 across his 25 Premier League appearances last season. He came off the bench to have one shot on target in this fixture last season and can carry recent momentum into this encounter to find the target again.

Jurrien Timber has committed a foul in each of his last five Premier League appearances, with the Arsenal fullback being very aggressive against his opposite winger. Timber’s tally for the season sits at 10 fouls across his eight Premier League appearances (1.47 per 90).

Timber was forced into committing three fouls in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid last time out from eight duels in total. I’d expect similar numbers here from the Arsenal fullback as he lines up against Yeremy Pino, who has been bright in the early weeks of the campaign for the Eagles.

Pino has won eight fouls across his six Premier League appearances this term (1.93 per 90) and averaged 1.39 fouls won per 90 across his 34 appearances in LaLiga last term. Timber could also find himself outnumbered at times here, with Palace playing with wingbacks. Mitchell isn’t the most prolific when it comes to winning fouls, but just his presence could cause a real issue for Timber with the 24-year-old also having to keep an eye on Pino.

Gyokeres ended his nine-game goal drought with a brace against Atletico Madrid during the week. They weren’t the prettiest goals that Gyokeres will score in his time at Arsenal, but they were necessary for the Swedish striker, with players like Gyokeres primarily operating based on confidence.

Strikers play in streaks of form, and Gyokeres’ brace against Atletico Madrid can inspire another mini run of success for the forward. All five of Gyokeres’ goals for Arsenal so far this season have come at the Emirates. He’s at his best when Arsenal are dominating the game, and he can wait patiently for chances to fall to him in the box.

I don’t think that Gyokeres is an elite striker, but he will inevitably score goals with the quality of delivery that Arsenal have. Rice, Saka, Odegaard, Zubimendi, and Eze all have superb delivery and can feed Gyokeres to get him goals, even if he isn’t that involved in Arsenal’s build-up play.

Kamada has been fortunate to avoid a caution so far this season with his combative nature. He’s committed 10 fouls across his six appearances in the Premier League (1.71 per 90), which is a record that suggests he’s been close to a booking on a few occasions for Palace this season.

Kamada picked up four yellow cards and one red card across his 15 starts for the Eagles last season. He’s a player who’s grown into his role at Palace after a difficult start to the campaign, but is now a key member of Palace’s midfield unit. He can cover a lot of ground, but isn’t the most accurate with the timing of his challenges, which is a trait that can put him in the crosshairs of the referee here.

Kamada is likely to line up against former Crystal Palace player Eberechi Eze. Eze has won five fouls across his seven appearances for Arsenal so far (0.98 per 90) and won 51 fouls across his 34 Premier League appearances last season (1.77 per 90). Zubimendi and Rice can also help to control the game for Arsenal and may found themselves hacked down by the eager Kamada.

Mateta scored a hat trick against Bournemouth last time out as the Eagles and the Cherries played out a 3-3 draw. He had 11 shots in the game which is the most any player has had in a Premier League game this season, and has caused Arsenal problems before with his physicality and sharp shooting ability.

Mateta scored in this fixture last season, coming on for the final 10 minutes of the game after Eddie Nketiah had started the match. He also had four shots in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Crystal Palace last season which was a pretty flattering scoreline when considering the underlying numbers from that encounter.

Mateta has had 28 shots overall across his eight Premier League appearances this season (3.64 per 90). These shots have returned an xG of 7.76 so Mateta has been getting some really high-quality chances in the early weeks of the season for Palace, something which should continue here.