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Team news: Merino not in the squad, Saka rested
Both managers have picked surprisingly strong teams. Arsenal do rest Bukayo Saka, who had an injury scare at Ipswich, and Mikel Merino isn’t in the squad. No word yet whether he’s been given the night off or whether they is an injury.
Apart from that it’s the strongest available team. Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey and Raheem Sterling return in place of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ben White, Merino and Saka.
Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta drop to the Palace bench, with Justin Devenny and Eddie Nketiah coming in, but that aside it’s the strongest available team. Jefferson Lerma replaces the suspended Chris Richards and Daichi Kamada is preferred to Will Hughes in midfield.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Sterling, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Tierney, Zinchenko, Gower, Henry-Francis, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia, Nwaneri, Saka.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Lerma, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Devenny, Eze; Nketiah.
Substitutes: Turner, Ward, Clyne, Kporha, Hughes, Esse, Sarr, Franca, Mateta.
It’s not so bad for Arsenal, who have almost a week to recover before the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. But when players are on a football field, there’s always the risk of injury.
We cannot think in those terms. I think when the players are fit and they are available and they want to play, they have to play. They are at their best when they are playing and they have consistency in their performances.
Crystal Palace were hoping to move this game forward by 24 hours. The Premier League were not for turning, which makes Oliver Glasner’s team selection for tonight’s game quite tricky. Do you rest players? Try to give them half an hour? An hour? Pick the entire 1989-90 back four as a two fingers to the Premier League?
Villa play [on Tuesday] – fair would be if both teams were playing on the same day, on Tuesday or on Wednesday. At this stage of the season it can influence if you have two or three days to rest. But we have to accept it and I’m pretty sure we will be top fit on Saturday.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Before The Lord’s Mayor’s Show, a piece of unscripted entertainment involving the association football teams of Arsenal and Crystal Palace. Both have season-defining semi-finals on the horizon – Palace on Saturday, Arsenal next Tuesday – and could probably do without this game.
While it isn’t particularly important for the two competitors, there is a very interested third party: if Palace win tonight, Liverpool will be crowned champions for the 20th time in their history. And they’ll get to celebrate with their own for the first time since 1990.
Kick off 8pm.
