Arsenal vs Crystal Palace – Carabao Cup: Preview, predictions and lineups

Arsenal begin their mini-series with Crystal Palace on Wednesday night as the two London sides meet in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

The Gunners, who have not won this competition since 1993, barely had to break a sweat to progress to the last eight. Wins over Bolton and Preston they came at a walking pace. Palace, meanwhile, beat Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers as well as Aston Villa and are chasing their first League Cup semi-final spot since 2012.

After a dismal start to the season, Palace settled down during Oliver Glasner’s first full season in charge. The Eagles are up to 15th in the Premier League table having extended their unbeaten run to five games with a 3-1 win over Brighton in the A23 derby on Sunday.

Arsenal are also unbeaten since returning from the November international break, but fans have been left deflated Saturday’s goalless draw with Everton. While the pressure is yet to mount on Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s upcoming games with the Eagles are important for the Spaniard. This is a fan base that expects to win, and the Gunners have not claimed silverware since Arteta’s first season in charge.

Behold 90 minutes guide to Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final.

Arsenal – Crystal Palace H2H Results (Last Five Matches)

Current form (all competitions)

Arsenal are still without multiple full-backs for Wednesday’s cup tie, with Arteta confirming ahead of Saturday’s draw that Ricardo Calafiori was it’s not ready yet to return to action due to a groin injury.

Calafiori, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko are expected to miss out again in midweek.

The Gunners boss will make a few changes from his weekend line-up but is expected to field a strong line-up. Thomas Partey could come into Arsenal’s midfield, while Raheem Sterling is in contention for a rare start in the front row. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are both likely to play despite the concentration of games.

Arsenal predicted line-up against Palace (4-3-3): Raya? Timbers, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Partey, Rice, Odegaard; After, Havertz, Sterling.

Glasner has settled on a stable XI at Premier League and there are unlikely to be any big changes from the team that started at the Amex on Sunday. However, the Eagles are unlikely to remain unchanged.

Cheick Doucoure and Daichi Kamada, who scored a goal at the Emirates for Eintracht Frankfurt, could both be included in the Palace XI after coming off the bench on Sunday.

Former Gunner Eddie Nketiah started the third and fourth round wins over QPR and Aston Villa. He could replace Jean-Philippe Mateta up top.

Wednesday’s visitors are without Adam Wharton, Matheus Franca, Joel Ward and Chadi Riad due damage.

Palace predicted line-up against Arsenal (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Kamada, Doucoure, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Nketiah.

Glasner’s Eagles have settled after a terrible start to the season, with the Austrian facing a side without the talent of Michael Olise. Ismaila Sarr is the new danger man in town and the former Watford winger will be crucial to their chances on Wednesday. They need to maintain a threat in transition against a team capable of suffocating their opponents into submission.

However, while Arsenal have exercised impressive control in recent weeks, they have struggled in the final third. Palace are unlikely to dig in their heels to the extent Everton did on Saturday, but the visitors will concede ground and aim to upset their hosts. The Eagles’ back three could tame an unbalanced front line that is low on confidence, and Arteta needs to be careful with his squad selection here. A rotating Gunners outfit could struggle.

Palace may have a sniff here, but it’s hard to back the visitors to win outright.

Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Crystal Palace

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