How Arsenal vs Crystal Palace will showcase two of the Premier League’s most entertaining players
After FA Cup replays took centre stage in midweek, the Premier League returns this weekend starting with an entertaining tie at the Emirates Stadium.
After time off for the winter break, Arsenal and Crystal Palace return to Premier League action on Saturday with both sides needing the points for two different reasons.
The Gunners, who sat on top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day, now find themselves in fourth, five points behind leaders Liverpool, and out of the FA Cup after three straight defeats to West Ham, Fulham and Liverpool. These results coupled with Man City’s return to form now mean that Mikel Arteta’s men have just a 2.6% chance of lifting the Premier League title according to Opta Probability and three points is a must this weekend if they are going to have any chance at all.
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They face a Palace side who also crashed out of the FA Cup to Premier League opposition, after Andre Gomes’ free-kick handed Everton a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park. That results means it’s now just one win from their last 11 games across all competitions, although that did come in their last Premier League match against Brentford.
These two sides have played out some high scoring matches in recent times, including Arsenal’s 4-1 victory in March, but this game looks set to be an entertaining one for the neutral as well as fans for both sides.
On the pitch on Saturday, we will see the only two players to have completed 100+ take-ons in the Premier League since the start of last season go head-to-head in Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka.
Infact, if Jordan Ayew wasn’t away with Ghana for the African Cup of Nations, then five of the top 10 players with the most take-ons since the the beginning of 2022/23 could have been strutting their stuff on the pitch at the Emirates, with Gabriel Martinelli and Michael Olise also making the list, but we will have to make do with four.
As well as having some of the Premier League best dribblers on show, we may also have a contest for who can perform the most nutmegs, as according to StatsBomb, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are also joint top of the most nutmegs in the Premier League this season alongside Luton’s Chiedozie Ogbene. So if they don’t beat you, then keep your legs closed.
