Arsenal vs Crystal Palace predicted XIs: Confirmed team news and probable line-ups | OneFootball

London rivals Arsenal and Crystal Palace are just two games away from a Wembley final as they prepare to meet in an EFL Cup quarter-final tie.

Arsenal are two-time winners whereas Palace have not reached this stage of the competition since 2011/12 when they were a Championship side.

The match will be held at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, 18th December and is set to kick off at 19:30 GMT. It is being shown live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Ultra HDR.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Predicted XIs

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Raya; Partey, Saliba, Kiwior, Timber; Odegaard, Jorginho; Nwaneri, Sterling, Trossard; Jesus.

Crystal Palace (3-4-3): Henderson; Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi; Clyne, Hughes, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Team news

Arsenal defenders Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all out injured with only Calafiori close to a return.

Declan Rice limped out of Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Everton so has to be considered a doubt, although may not have played anyway with Mikel Arteta sure to use his squad depth. That should mean starts for the likes of Jakob Kiwior, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling and one or two others.

Palace’s England midfielder Adam Wharton, out for six weeks, is close to a return.

Eagles boss Oliver Glasner sent out a very strong team at Aston Villa in the previous round but did swap goalkeepers with American international Matt Turner handed the gloves.

Daniel Munoz will miss the quarter-final after picking up his second caution in this season’s EFL Cup in the win at Villa Park.

Gunners in need of more firepower?

Speculation is mounting that Arsenal will look to sign a striker in the January window as criticism continues of their absence of a top-class centre-forward – PSG’s Randal Kolo Muani is one name being linked with the north London giants.

Palace boss Glasner is unconcerned that superstar wide man Ebe Eze has only scored one goal in 13 league appearances this season. “He will score goals for sure, I’m comfortable with that,” said the Austrian.

But ex-Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah has yet to score in 11 appearances since heading south of the Thames, all part of the reason why only three teams in the top flight have scored fewer goals than the Eagles.