Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Double Boost But Attacker Ruled Out

Expect to see Wilfried Zaha to start because he had a goal in the game against Norwich.

However, Wenger also confirmed that while Danny Welbeck is making “good progress” on his recovery from a knee injury that has been plaguing him since April, the attacker is still going to be short for Sunday’s trip to Selhurst Park.

Let’s start with the good news and Wenger revealed that Hector Bellerin is back in contention after recovering from a minor knock that saw him miss Sunday’s 2-0 loss to West Ham. Crystal Palace will put up a huge fight, but they will ultimately be overwhelmed as Arsenal‘s guns will be fully loaded in this match.

Series History: Arsenal leads the series with a 24-10-3 record. It remains their only home win ever over the Gunners.

The last meeting between the two ended 2-1 to Arsenal at Selhurst Park back in February as goals from Santi Cazorla and Oliver Giroud helped them on their way before a late Glenn Murray consolation.

This will not be an easy game but needless to say, Arsenal need a win. Cech will be out to prove his doubters wrong and Palace will have to be on top form to ensure they defeat Arsenal at their home ground or earn a draw. His agent said he will be out for one or two months, but it will be longer. The midfielder is regularly overlooked by pundits and fans in a packed area of the team, but he seems to be a favourite of Pardew’s and impressed in preseason and at Carrow Road. ‘Considering the recent results we had before that, going really well in pre-season, it’s disappointing and it was not an Arsenal performance. Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon will lobby to be in the starting XI. Arsenal may have beaten them twice, 2-1 both times, but neither win was conclusive or dominant.

Jim Daly is a freelance football writer and founder of Palace fanzine Five Year Plan.