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Crystal Palace 2-3 Arsenal | Premier League | Kick-off: 8pm
Team news/line-ups
Crystal Palace XI: Speroni, Kelly, Tomkins, Dann, Schlupp, Townsend, Cabaye, Milivojevic, Loftus-Cheek, Zaha, Benteke.
Substitutes: Van Aanholt, Hennessey, McArthur, Fosu-Mensah, Sako, Puncheon, Riedewald.
Arsenal XI: Cech, Chambers, Koscielny, Mustafi, Bellerin, Xhaka, Wilshere, Kolasinac, Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Substitutes: Ospina,Walcott, Holding, Iwobi, Welbeck, Maitland-Niles, Coquelin.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
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The teams have gone back inside to complete their final preparations ahead of kick-off, with Ozil chasing after Welbeck so he could nutmeg his team-mate via the advertising hoarding. An astonishing piece of skill from the German.
Here's what Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to say ahead of kick-off:
Our unbeaten run has given us a lot of confidence and we can take our good form into the game tonight.
"Arsenal have class players and are one of the best passing teams so we need to work hard and go out and play well."
No Arsenal fan needs any reminder of the shellacking Palace handed Arsenal last time these two met, a 3-0 drubbing that seemed to be the death knell for Wenger. That may not have been the case but it's a humiliation he will be desperate to avenge this evening. But he couldn't have picked a worse time to return to Selhurst Park, with Palace on their longest unbeaten run in the Premier League.
James Benge is LIVE at Selhurst Park to preview tonight's match!
Calum Chambers will make his first Premier League start for Arsenal since August 2016 after being named in the side for the Gunners’ Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.
Chambers’ return to the starting XI also sees Arsene Wenger resort to the back three he has opted to do without in recent weeks and with it Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac have been selected in place of the injured Nacho Monreal and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has made only one change from the side that drew 1-1 with Swansea, Christian Benteke returning alongside Wilfried Zaha after serving a one-match suspension.
Fancy a flutter on tonight’s game? Well here are some of the more interesting odds courtesy of Betfair…
Goalfest?
If you fancy some more festive goals then how about odds of 8/1 for both teams to score in both halves?
Breaking the ice
Special bet
For those who like a bit of déjà vu, you can get a 3-0 win for Crystal Palace at 60-1.
It's a BIG night for Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger matches Sir Alex Ferguson's Premier League record of 810 games as manager this evening having outlasted a number of touchline rivals in the capital.
Since taking charge of Arsenal on October 1, 1996, Wenger has overseen 467 wins, 145 defeats, 1,521 goals scored, three league titles and seven FA Cups.
In the same time, long-time north London rivals Tottenham have won just two League Cups and finished above the Gunners just once in the league, last season, as a number of Spurs managers have been hired and fired.
From Gerry Francis in 1996 to current incumbent Mauricio Pochettino, Wenger has faced 11 different faces in the Spurs dugout during his 22 seasons at the helm.
Photo: Getty Images
Of 51 north London derbies, Wenger has lost just eight times and only one of his first 27.
Chelsea have fared better during Wenger's time in London, with 14 different managers but far more trophies.
In total, Wenger has seen Chelsea win five of their six league titles, six of their seven FA Cups and three of their four European cups including both the Champions League and Europa League.
Ruud Gullit was Wenger's first Chelsea counterpart, before Gianluca Vialli in a player-manager role and then Claudio Ranieri before fierce rival Jose Mourinho first arrived in 2004.
Wenger won his first four games against Chelsea and went 17 games unbeaten against them between 1999 and 2004, but has seen the Blues become the more successive London side during his tenure.
However, most recently, Wenger has triumphed on just four of the last 16 meetings between the two teams.
Rather surprisingly, West Ham have had just 15 permanent managers during their existence and Wenger has face 10 of them from Harry Redknapp to, most recently, David Moyes.
It's a different story over at Crystal Palace were Wenger has outlasted over 20 different Eagles managers, starting with Dave Bassett and facing their most recent appointing, Roy Hodgson, this evening.
Welcome to the Evening Standard's LIVE coverage of Crystal Palace vs Arsenal.
Tune in on Thursday evening for the latest score from Selhurst Park. Kick off is at 8pm.
For the latest betting odds and specials for this match, head to Betfair.com.
