Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Prediction, 9:00 p.m. October 26: Securing the top spot

Pre-match review Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

With defending champions Liverpool suffering back-to-back defeats, Arsenal have a great chance to break away from the top of the table. Before this round, they were 3 points ahead of Man City and 4 points ahead of Arsenal.

With Liverpool continuing to fail at Brentford last night, Arsenal will have the opportunity to break away in the race against this dangerous opponent. This is an opportunity that the Gunners cannot afford to miss if they want to end their 21-year Premier League title drought. However, hosting Crystal Palace is not an easy task. Palace have lost only 1 of their last 15 Premier League matches (W6, D8).

Oliver Glasner's side could win more games if they converted more expected goals (xG) into goals. Palace lead the Premier League in shots on target (43), xG (17.4) and big chances this season. However, they are significantly underperforming in xG (-5.4) and have missed 22 of their 33 big chances.

Participating in the European Cup 3 is causing Crystal Palace difficulties. After an extremely impressive start to the season, Palace have gone 3 games without a win. They lost to Everton, drew with Bournemouth, and suffered a shocking defeat to AEK Larnaca. Manager Oliver Glasner was even determined to use the pillars of the European Cup 3 to change the situation but that seems to be "counterproductive".

Tonight, Crystal Palace visit Arsenal with a mentally and physically exhausted squad. They need to shake off this feeling if they don't want to suffer a heavy defeat at the Emirates, because the Gunners are flying high. Coach Mikel Arteta's team just crushed Atletico Madrid 4-0, extending their winning streak to 6 consecutive matches.

After losing to Liverpool at the end of August, Arsenal have gone nine games unbeaten, winning eight and keeping seven clean sheets. The Gunners are now feeling unbeatable, especially at the Emirates.

The foundation of Arsenal's success remains their defence. They have faced the fewest shots (65), had the fewest shots on target (18), had the lowest xG (4.8) and conceded the fewest goals (3) in the Premier League this season. This is the fewest goals they have conceded after their first eight games of the season, equalling the 1998-99 campaign.

However, the difference compared to last season is in the attack. The presence of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres makes Arsenal's attack stronger, more direct and more "well-prepared". Besides the feeling of solidity in the defense, Arsenal more or less create the feeling that they can score at any time. That is the key to their success this season.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace form

Expected lineup Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

Arsenal: David Raya, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori, Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Viktor Gyokeres.

Crystal Palace: Dean Henderson, Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Guehi, Adam Wharton, Daichi Kamada, Daniel Munoz, Tyrick Mitchell, Yéremy Pino, Ismaïla Sarr, Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Score prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace