Olise injured. Eze off the boil. Ayew at Afcon. Wilf not replaced. Mateta and Edouard pants. Hodgson happy if we keep a clean sheet. I am guessing we will get nil.

If Arsenal can scramble a goal from somewhere we lose the game. Roy will think we were unlucky.

Move on to Brighton and repeat.

Got tickets for both, but might go and watch Bromley instead. 3 o'clock kick off, wont get kettled, no VAR, have a beer while watching both teams to score goals.

I know. It is just what is on offer from the league and Palace in particular is not particularly enticing at the moment. We are in the middle of a winter break we don't need, where the league has split its fixtures over 2 weekends to give all teams a weekend off. So we now have globally televised football, Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, Sunday early afternoon, and Sunday late afternoon. 10 games over 2 weekends and not one of them on Saturday at 3:00pm - because it cannot be televised in the UK then due to broadcasting restrictions.

To all those match attending fans in England, you're welcome.

In lanzarote next week meeting up with Lanzo Lad to watch the game, not hopeful at all,

A free roll of the dice.

Expect to get beat easily but you never know……….

This outcome would be like manna from heaven.

I suspect the majority would agree that an unexpected victory will result in the name of Mr Hodgson gleaming akin to a brass knob, an abject defeat will see him subjected to disobliging comments.

I am going too, with an Arsenal pal who has a spare season ticket. I was looking forward to it until Palace drew with Everton and now face a replay 60 hours before the match. It might have helped if our replay was tonight instead of tomorrow, but that was too much to ask from the tossers who arrange these dates.

The right place at the right time