Tonight’s game against Palace feels like a bit of an inconvenience for both teams, if we’re all honest with ourselves, but Arsenal still have a job to do this evening. With Man City winning late against Villa last night, City are within five points of us now, having played a game more. The whole world and his wife have admitted that they have had an implosion of a season, so the fact that they could still catch us and will probably also walk away with an FA Cup trophy at the end of the season (I can’t see them not beating Forest at the weekend, then again with one of Villa or Palace), would really sting if we don’t hit our lofty aspirations at this stage in the season.

So whilst I have lamented the domestic campaign for a number of weeks now, I still want us to ‘do our job’ and make sure we get  the required points needed to secure that second spot, which means a win tonight is what is required. That will take us to 69 points and have a lot more daylight between us and the rest of the league.

Palace will of course want to win, but they neither need to win, nor do they need to have any injuries or fatigue for their FA Cup semi final at the weekend. Oliver Glasner himself has hinted that they’ll make changes and although I don’t think he’ll rotate the whole team tonight, I also don’t think it will be the ‘two or three’ he suggested on their official site yesterday. They’ll be missing Richards who was sent off at the weekend against Bournemouth, but if I was to hazard a guess, I’d think that they’ll probably rest Eze and maybe Sarr too. He might decide to play one of those two, then maybe somebody like Guehi or Mitchell on the flanks. If Palace are going to spend this evening without the ball – which you’d expect given we’re at home – then they will be doing a fair bit of off the ball running. That might mean that the likes of the full backs and the attacking players are given a rest.

As for us, I think Arteta can afford to go a little stronger, because we have just under a week under we play PSG next Tuesday. I suspect the back four will revert to the first choice back four and that will mean a return of Timber and Lewis-Skelly. They didn’t play on Sunday against Ipswich and both White and Zinchenko haven’t played much football lately, so chucking in somebody like White for back-to-back games is probably not something Arteta wants to risk.

I think the midfield will be the ‘dress rehearsal’ midfield for PSG, which means the same as at the weekend in Suffolk, so that might mean a place on the bench for Partey. It’s harsh on a player who has been so consistent for us this season, but we need to get our system with as many minutes as possible together for another dry run before the big match next Tuesday. The game against Ipswich would have been a confidence-booster for the midfield and the attack on the day, but it was done within the first 30 minutes and when the red card came out; reduced to a training ground of keep ball, with Arsenal and Ipswich both knowing it was over very early on that Sunday afternoon. It meant the team wasn’t as tested as an outfit and so if I was in Arteta’s shoes i’d be looking at getting the lads out there again who will play on Tuesday night to see if we can work through more of those connections that will be so important when we play the perennial French champions.

So for me it’s Rice in the six, Odegaard right eight, Merino left eight. Then up front ‘we go again’ with that front three. Trossard putting in another positive play with the likes of Saka and Martinelli around him will do us the world of good I think. And hopefully there should be some goals tonight too to give them more confidence. Arteta did mention yesterday that Saka ‘should’ be ok, given his boot on his achilles on Sunday, so perhaps the only question mark will be on whether Arteta wants to risk him. Having missed so much football this season Saka will of course be desperate to play, but Arsenal, Arteta and the medical staff will need ton be very mindful of not stressing his body too much. So to that end, if he’s even a few percent shy of being fully fit, I don’t think any Arsenal fan would have any issues with seeing Nwaneri start from the off tonight. He scored at the weekend, I heard on the Arsecast he’s just one goal away from double figures for the season, so there’s an incentive there for the youngster to come on and see if he can do the business for us tonight if he starts.

As for how Palace will line up tactically for today, I suspect their game-plan changes little than usual, which will involve pressing off the ball and trying to transition from front to back as quickly as possible. Palace don’t like to keep the ball at all; they prefer to cover the hard yards without it, press the opposition, then when they win it get it forward to rapid attackers as quickly as they can. Their fullbacks also play an important role in this too and if Glasner decides he needs to keep more in the tank for them for the weekend, then I suspect there might be opportunities for us to test full backs that perhaps aren’t the usual first choice.

Whatever happens, we need to make sure this is a professional Arsenal performance, one like the weekend that helps us to set and build momentum ahead of the most important match of our season next Tuesday.

Back tomorrow for a Palace de-brief. See you then.