3 Arsenal players who must start against Crystal Palace tonight

Tomas Rosicky

The Gunners entertain Tony Pulis’ resurgent Crystal Palace outfit on Sunday afternoon as they look to re-establish a lead at the top of the Premier League.

What would normally appear the proverbial home banker on paper all of a sudden seems a potential banana skin from an Arsenal perspective.

Off the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw at Southampton, and with a raft of midfield injuries plus Mathieu Flamini’s suspension to contend with, Arsene Wenger’s wounded charges face a Palace side continuing to ride the crest of a wave under Pulis’ tutelage.

Away form has not been perfect by any means, with Pulis’ men having picked up just three points from a possible 12, but their latest effort towards pulling off an unlikely escape act on Tuesday – a 1-0 win over Hull City – was the perfect pre-match tonic for the often daunting trip to the Emirates Stadium.

With Palace’s spirits boosted and Arsenal’s dampened through their respective midweek results, here are the three Gunners capable of knocking the Eagles back down to earth with a bump this weekend.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Back from injury and determined to cement a spot in the Arsenal midfield, Oxlade-Chamberlain has the perfect opportunity to make his mark against Palace from either a central position or out wide.

The ex-Southampton man came on against his former employers in the week and, although he was only able to taste 20 minutes worth of action as he replaced Serge Gnabry.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stats

It could well be Gnabry who drops to the bench after a disappointing performance against the Saints, but Chamberlain’s sum total of first-team football in the Premier League, at least, amounts to around 35 minutes.

Chamberlain did play 70 minutes during the FA Cup win over Coventry City and it is difficult to place a barometer on his overall performance this season, having sustained a knee ligament injury in the first game of the season, a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

While the exuberant midfield man posts minus scores for each of his three recent Premier League cameos, his role against Villa yielded an impressive performance score of 46, which came about courtesy of an assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener, an 80% success rate in terms of take-ons and having posed Matthew Lowton a number of problems and an 83% pass success rate to boot.

Oxlade-Chamberlain Pass Map vs Villa (H) – PL 2013/14

His contribution on his first-team return, ironically against Villa in the reverse clash, was seven out of eight completed passes and it was a similar story in both of his other outings, finding little time to make an impact. He will hope he can correct that from out wide or through the middle against Palace.

Santi Cazorla

Whisper it quietly, but the diminutive Spaniard is finally hitting the sort of form he showed last season, having notched four goals in his last three games for the club.

Cazorla Goals Scored – PL 2013/14

Cazorla was central to the Gunners’s push for the top four last season but suffered a dip from his usually exemplary standards at the start of the current campaign and before his recent goalscoring splurge, featuring a brace against Fulham before strikes against Coventry and Southampton respectively, he had scored just once.

The playmaker has just two assists to his name this season and is struggling to replicate his role as Arsenal’s creator-in-chief from last year, having accumulated 11 in his debut season.

Of course that burden has been lifted from his shoulders with the arrival of Mesut Özil, but Cazorla finally looks to be finding his groove once more.

He will hope to maintain that against Palace at the weekend, having scored once again on the south coast to preserve his thirst for goals. His performance against Southampton, like the majority of the team, wasn’t the best but it hardly mattered with his goalscoring contribution crucial in gaining Arsenal a scarcely-deserved result.

Cazorla Pass Map vs Southampton (A) – PL 2013/14

His 100% shooting accuracy was encouraging but no crosses from three completed, just three out of seven take ons and a staggeringly low 78% passing accuracy suggest Cazorla has even more to offer against Palace.

Tomas Rosicky

Wenger revealed during his Friday press conference that the Czech midfielder will be back in contention for Sunday’s clash, which provides the Arsenal boss with more options, centrally and on the flanks.

His all-action style will be vital to picking the locks in a Palace backline which has secured an impressive six clean sheets in all competitions since Pulis’ arrival, but Rosicky’s presence can provide Arsenal with the drive that was so sorely lacking – an Özil second-half surge aside – at Southampton.

The playmaker sustained a broken nose at Villa in the latest backs-against-the-wall style Arsenal victory of the season and his recent performance at Newcastle embodies the sort of campaign he is having, combining industry with craft to help his side in the sort of battles they have faced on the road all season and thereby preserving their status in the title race.

At St James’s Park, Rosicky completed two from as many take ons and registered 86% passing completion but also made two out of four tackles, contested three headed duels and made two interceptions.

Rosicky Pass Map vs Newcastle (A) – PL 2013/14

Rosicky can expect to be offered a more integral role, offensively, on Sunday but nevertheless, his constant hassling and harrying of opponents, as Danny Rose will attest, can unsettle opponents.

Rose was dispossessed on the halfway line by the ever-alert Rosicky who duly proceeded to sprint through to the Tottenham area and score a crucial second as the Gunners saw off their north London neighbours in the FA Cup third round.

Palace will set up to stifle Arsenal and exploit space on the counter, but Rosicky can be sure to have an impact at both ends.

Arsenal, despite their minor slip-up in the week, will be considered favourites to secure a win over the resurgent Eagles this weekend but they should be wary of the gameplan Pulis is sure to countenance in the hope of grabbing a shock result.

Stocking the midfield with this effervescent trio could be the perfect recipe to ensure there is no lingering hangover after a blip.