The first of two meetings between Arsenal and Crystal Palace in the space of four days, both teams face each other at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday in EFL Cup quarter final match, with the winner assured a place in the semis.
Yet another week of Liverpool denied a three point weekend, and yet again Arsenal unable to take advantage. Having let two points slips through their fingers last time out when they failed to capitalise on the fact that leaders Liverpool’s Merseyside derby had been called off two weeks ago, Arsenal had no answers to the resilient wall put up by the Reds’ rivals.
Largely due to a heroic performance from Jordan Pickford in goal, a fresh Everton team returned to the Emirates with a point in the bag after idealizing the Arteta’s men, depriving them of chances while creating even fewer for themselves.
Now the margin is only six points to Liverpool in the Premier League, but will be a nine if the leaders won their figured game – and the head coach Arteta is now again under criticism as Arsenal’s newly merciless men altogether provided another unkempt attacking workout.
Fluency in the front has not been lacking vs lower-tier teams in the EFL Cup so far, though, as Arsenal thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-1 in round three before disposing of Preston North End 3-0 last month, when Ethan Nwaneri’s sensational strike stood out.
The quarter-finals have traditionally been Arsenal’s Cup nightmare in previous EFL tournaments, seeing the hosts knocked out of seven out of their last ten attempts at this stage of the competition and have not won the first piece of silverware of the season in 31 years.
The Gunners struggled to a goalless draw with Everton, while the Eagles easily defeated M23 rivals Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 in their most recent Premier League match.
Even if Arsenal's recent EFL Cup record is poor, a victory over Arteta's team at the Emirates on Wednesday would match their best-ever performance in the competition; their deepest League Cup campaigns were in 1995, 2001, and 2012.
However, in contrast to the Gunners, the Eagles had to defeat a top-tier opponent in order to advance to the quarterfinals. In round four, they stunned Unai Emery's Aston Villa 2-1 in the West Midlands after defeating Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers earlier.
Although the hosts' confidence has recently declined, Crystal Palace has the most spring in their step ahead of Wednesday's derby after defeating bitter rivals Brighton 3-1 in Sunday's Premier League "derby" thanks to a masterclass from Ismaila Sarr.
Although the 15th-place Eagles are far from over their troubles, their victory at Amex extended their Premier League winning streak to five games in a row. They also have an identical unbeaten record on the road across all competitions since their defeat by Nottingham Forest in October.
The quarterfinal match comes before Saturday's Premier League derby between Arsenal and Palace, where Arteta's team has won each of the last four meetings between the two teams. If the Gunners reserve their semi-final ticket in midweek, they might defeat the Eagles for the sixth consecutive time.
When Arteta changed Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard barely beyond the hour mark on Saturday, many people were taken aback. However, the Gunners manager stated that the former had requested to be replaced because of a niggle, so a midweek rest is probably in order.
Regarding Crystal Palace, Daniel Munoz's availability for this match is unaffected by his fifth Premier League booking of the weekend; instead, he will serve his suspension in the top division, and Glasner may benefit from two returns.
Although Adam Wharton suffered a minor setback after surgery, Joel Ward was not included in the squad for the Brighton triumph. However, neither player has been ruled out of the quarterfinal yet, which is more than can be said for Chadi Riad (fitness) and Matheus Franca (groin).
Two more former Gunners, Matt Turner and Eddie Nketiah, may be elevated to the starting lineup, although Rob Holding, who is still suspended for disciplinary reasons, will not play against his old team either.
