With Crystal Palace almost safety there’s much less riding on Sunday’s London derby than there could have been but Arsène Wenger is wary nonetheless.
A draw at Everton on Wednesday night meant Palace are a long way from going down, even if Alan Pardew is still asking his players to deliver more points to confirm their Premier League status.
“It’s a London derby, Crystal Palace now should be completely safe even if they still need one or two points but I think they’ve got out of the relegation problem,” Arsène Wenger told the media in Friday’s press conference.
The Arsenal boss wants his own side to keep a gap between the sides below the Gunners, as well as aiming to put pressure on Spurs and Leicester City. With that in mind, Palace pose quite the threat.
We have seen more than enough of Emmanuel Adebayor in the past while the likes of Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha always capable of upsetting the opposition.
“Overall it’s a team who has a good offensive potential with strong individuals like Bolasie, Zaha. They have Adebayor as well, they’re a big offensive force so we need to rectify the fact we conceded goals at West Ham and come back to be strong defensively.”
After a poor showing at the back last weekend, Arsenal need a big response on Sunday to help fans begin to restore faith in their players.