Arsenal Vs Crystal Palace: The Gunners Aim For 7th Anniversary Victory In The London Derby

Grabriel Magalhaes, shining with Arsenal (photo; x @arsenal)

JAKARTA - Arsenal, who are now top of the Premier League standings and are in an uphill performance, will host Crystal Palace, which slumped at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, October 26 at the London derby.

Mikel Arteta's squad is eyeing a seventh straight win in all competitions, while Oliver Glasner's side have failed to win in their last three games, both in domestic and European competitions.

Since the arrival of Nicolas Jover as a set-piece coach, Arsenal has made the situation the main weapon. In the eighth week of the Premier League season 2025 '26, the Gunners again showed this advantage when they beat Fulham 1-0 through Leandro Trossard's goal from a corner.

It was Arsenal's 10th goal in just eight Premier League games this season the fastest record for a team to reach double-digit goals from a set-piece situation throughout league history.

Thanks to this consistency, Arsenal are now leading the Premier League standings, shifting the limping Liverpool. Manchester City is now the closest competitor, three points behind.

Interestingly, this weekend Arsenal has the opportunity to match the record of former Arteta club Manchester City, which has gone through three Premier League games without facing a single shot on target (MayAgustus 2014).

In midweek Champions League games, goalkeeper David Raya was only tested a little when Arsenal crushed Atletico Madrid 4-0. The win shows that Arsenal's ability is not only from set pieces, but also open games.

Crystal Palace also relied on set pieces in the eighth week of the Premier League. Penalti Jean-Philippe Mateta in the 97th minute confirmed a 3-3 draw against Bournemouth in a full-fledged match.

Mateta, who scored a hat trick in the match, became the third French player in Premier League history to score more than a hat trick, following in the footsteps of Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry two former Arsenal strikers. However, he failed to add a fourth goal in the final minutes of the game.

Palace's bad luck continued at the Conference League in the middle of last week. A fatal mistake from Jaydee Canvot and a number of wasted chances cost them 0-1 to AEK Larnaca.

After being unbeaten in 19 matches in all competitions, Palace has now lost twice to their last three matches. Their solid defense has now weakened, only recorded one clean sheet from the last seven matches, and conceded six goals in the last three games.

The record of meeting with Arsenal was not on their side. Palace lost five of their last six Premier League meetings, although the only exception came last season when Mateta scored the equalizer in stoppage time for a 2-2 draw at the Emirates.

Arsenal got bad news after a win over Atletico. Defender Gabriel Magalhaes has a thigh injury and is doubtful. Cristhian Mosquera is predicted to replace his position in the heart of defense.

Piero Hincapie, who is more experienced on the left, is not ready to appear because he has only played one minute this season. In addition, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, and Noni Madueke are still absent until the international break, while Gabriel Jesus, who is often Palace's nightmare, will only recover from ACL's injury by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

From the squad that destroyed Atletico 4-0, most likely only one change occurred, namely Riccardo Calafiori replacing Myles Lewis-Skelly on the left side of the defense.

In the Palace camp, no player has recovered from injury. Caleb Kporha (chaotic), Cheick Doucoure (lut), and Chadi Riad (lutut) are still absent.

After Jaydee Canvot's poor performance in a European match where he made a fatal mistake, Chris Richards is predicted to return to the starting XI.

Former Arsenal player Eddie Nketiah came on as a substitute for Canvot in the game, but his chances were small starter as Mateta was on-fire with eight goals from his last nine Premier League games all created in London.

With longer rest times, solid defenses, and dangerous variety of attacks, Arsenal is expected to win a comfortable victory at the Emirates.

Crystal Palace is rarely losing big and will try to defend with discipline, but Arsenal's backline is difficult to penetrate right now and if it's difficult to score, the Gunners still have a flagship weapon: the ball goes out,

Arsenal (4-3-3):Raya; Timber, Saliba, Mosquera, Calafiori; Eze, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli.

Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Pino, Sarr; Mateta.

Score Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace