How Arsenal should lineup against Crystal Palace tonight

Central-Midfield: Mikel Arteta

Arteta is back from a spell on the sidelines, but he didn’t look fully fit against Southampton. However, Arsenal have little choice in terms of who they select to play in the central midfield positions.

Arteta, with a 92% pass accuracy is an essential cog in the Arsenal line-up, especially with Flamini out injured. He is also very strong in the tackle, making 33 successful ones this season. An interesting statistic is that Arteta completes 91% of his attempted take ons, more than any other Arsenal player.

Central-Midfield: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Chamberlain has played just 82 Premier League minutes this season, so throwing him in with a start against Crystal Palace would be a risk, but after several cameo appearances and a start in the Capital One Cup, he looks to be ready again for Premier League action.

Tomas Rosicky has the ability to play in this role, but Arsene seems keen to test Chamberlain in the heart of midfield. His energy levels will be vital. Arteta could provide freedom for Chamberlain to express his attacking abilities he has shown when playing on the wing.

Attacking-Midfield: Mesut Ozil

Mesut Ozil looked on brilliant form against Southampton; the German was unlucky to not get on the score sheet, but notched up yet another assist. The £40million German attacking midfielder has become a mainstay in the Arsenal team at number 10, and his creative talents make him an essential part of it.

He is Arsenal’s assist leader in the league, with eight assists. He has also managed 44 key passes; the next closest Arsenal player to this is Santi Cazorla with 29. Despite sometimes not being at his best, Arsenal cannot really afford not to play Mesut Ozil.

Right-Wing: Santi Cazorla

Cazorla has been on fine form of late, with five goals in his last five. Earlier this season I wrote an article for Squawka about how Cazorla was struggling for form, and notably for goals and assists. His position became under threat. However, his fortunes have changed and his goals are becoming vital to Arsenal.

Hopefully for Gunners fans this form can continue and if so he will have no worries about his World Cup place, something which was a concern before he hit form. He has an 86% pass success rate and has now scored four league goals, as well and two in two in the FA Cup.

Santi Cazorla stats

Left-Wing: Lukas Podolski

Gnabry was arguably Man of the Match in Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Tottenham this month, and in Theo Walcott’s absence, the young German has a proved his first team quality. However, after a run of starts in the first team, he could do with a rest ahead of a demanding February.

On form and underused, Lukas Podolski should replace Gnabry against Palace. Arsene says Podolski is not full fit, but with two goals against Coventry last week, Lukas showed he is fit enough to perform and score goals. Arsene will need him on top form for the rest of the season, so using him against Palace on the left would be advisable.

Striker: Olivier Giroud

Giroud has picked up some goalscoring form recently, and with 10 league goals already, he will be confident of reaching 20, especially with no new striker looking likely to arrive at the Emirates. With Podolski failing to impress up front and Bendtner’s struggles obvious, Giroud is an essential part of the Arsenal eleven.

Olivier Giroud stats

Following goals in consecutive games against Coventry and West Ham, the Frenchman will hope we can re-capture some of his early season form.