Palace v Arsenal

Selhurst Park, Thursday 8.00pm

Christian Benteke

Team news

Palace striker Christian Benteke will make his way back into the side after serving his one-match ban. Boss Roy Hodgson may decide to leave out midfielder James McArthur to allow the Belgian in.

Eagles defenders Mamadou Sakho (calf) and Joel Ward (groin) are still missing, along with Connor Wickham (knee).

Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal (ankle) is a doubt, while front man Olivier Giroud and midfielder Aaron Ramsey (both hamstring) are still sidelined, along with Santi Cazorla (ankle).

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"We are going to find it very difficult and will have to be at the absolute top of our game and hope that Arsenal are not at their best then we might have a chance. I don't look forward to playing the teams that are fully expected to beat us and they are such a good team with so many good players.

"We know that's what we've got coming, that's what we've got to try to find a way of trying to deal with. The only advantage we have is the fact that it is at home... they (the fans) will be expecting us to give our all against Arsenal.

"We need to build on the four points we have just picked up away from home. We have not been playing badly and if we can keep that going we may even get points from those games that people don't expect us to."

Arsene Wenger

"[Palace] were unlucky at the start with many injuries. If you look at the team they have quality players. Roy Hodgson has experience of the Premier League so I'm not surprised.

"For me the reputation of Roy Hodgson, in my opinion, was as high as it is now. It can happen that you have bad experience and that's what happened with him in the European Championships. That doesn't question 40 years of work in the game.

"We've been very consistent at home and our level of performances have been fantastic. We lost one game and, a natural observer, would even concede we had an outstanding performance in the game we lost. Overall, the consistency is not a question.

"We have to find a good balance. We are an offensive team and we take a gamble and a risk. We stand up for that. Maybe we have to find a better balance between offensive and defensive efficiency."

Arsenal - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
6th	19	10	4	5	34

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
10/04/2017	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 0	Arsenal
01/01/2017	League	Arsenal	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
17/04/2016	League	Arsenal	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
16/08/2015	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Arsenal
21/02/2015	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Arsenal

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 3-0 Arsenal

Monday April 10 2017

Palace: Hennessey, Kelly, Sakho, Schlupp, Ward, Cabaye (McArthur, 74), Zaha (Delaney, 88), Townsend, Puncheon, Milivojevic (Flamini, 82), Benteke

Subs not used: Speroni, Kaikai, Sako, Fryers

Goals: Townsend (17), Cabaye (63), Milivojevic (68)

Arsenal: Martinez, Mustafi, Bellerin, Gabriel, Monreal, Xhaka, Elneny (Ramsey, 59), Walcott (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 69), Sanchez, Ozil, Welbeck (Giroud, 60)

Subs not used: Gibbs, Macey, Coquelin, Mertesacker

Bookings: Mustafi