Arsenal kick off their season with the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, less than a week after the comfortable 3-0 Community Shield victory over Premier League champions Manchester City. The Gunners have brought in Barcelona star forward Alexis Sanchez this summer, young talent Calum Chambers and also Mathieu Debuchy to compensate the departures of Bacary Sagna and Thomas Vermaelen. There is some lack of depth in defence though as Per Mertesacker is still unavailable, along with Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.
Theo Walcott is still over a month away from returning from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that ruled him out of the World Cup. Crystal Palace survived in the Premier League last season but they had a big problem in attack as they scored just 33 goals in 38 games. Palace brought in Frazier Campbell to improve their scoring odds, he could play alongside former Arsenal player Marouane Chamakh. Manager Tony Pulis also improved his defence by bringing in Brede Hangeland and Martin Kelly.
Probable starting line-ups:
Arsenal: Szczesny - Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Gibbs - Arteta, Ramsey - Cazorla, Wilshere, Sanchez - Giroud
Palace: Speroni - Ward, Hangeland, Dann, Delaney - Puncheon, Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie - Chamakh, Campbell
My prediction: Arsenal to win 2-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Arsenal win - 1/4 Draw - 11/2 Crystal Palace win - 14/1
Snoop 9 years ago
Arsenal was bad in this game, they must play better if they want to win the title, you said that good, there is not easy matches in Premier League, this season will be very interesting, 6-7 clubs is fighting for title, there's no much space for mistakes...
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skrunici 9 years ago
At start premier league show why is the best... or maybe in top 2 league on the world. That was great game, and in premier league there isn't easy matches. every game is hard. That know Mun Utd :D
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