Arsenal 0-0 Crystal Palace – Premier League: Live score, team news and updates with Gunners in desperate need of a win after three defeats on the spin… as Mikel Arteta makes opinion-splitting re-call

It looks like a large group of police were dealing with something in the away end ahead of kick off.

We’re not quite sure what quite happened, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have any information.

Positive play from Arsenal.

Havertz drives towards goal and almost gets on the end of Odegaard’s lofted through ball after an attempted one-two.

The ball bounces out to Jesus, who takes a touch, before firing over with his left foot under pressure.

Arsenal have started brightly here and look sharp, pinging the ball around in the early stages.

Crystal Palace are lining up with a back five with Richards alongside Andersen and Guehi in the centre and Clyne and Mitchell at wing-back.

Palace then float an early free kick into the Gunners’ box, but Andersen heads high and wide.

Crystal Palace’s Will Hughes gets us underway.

Paul Tierney is in charge of proceedings today.

Here we go…

It looks like a great atmosphere inside the Emirates.

With Jesus and Zinchenko back to fitness, Arsenal’s bench looks a lot stronger today too.

This promises to be a cracker!

Despite the seeming gloom and doom hanging over Arsenal after a difficult festive spell, things are really not that bad.

The Gunners will go within two points of Liverpool today if they win and with players coming back from injury, Mikel Arteta will hope his side have endured their dip.

Arsenal have also only lost once at home to Crystal Palace since 1994 and just twice ever in the Premier League so the history is with them today.

Here’s how the current top six looks.

While Jordan Henderson’s departure from Saudi Arabia has been the major story of the January transfer window, it’s been relatively quiet across the Premier League.

Arsenal continue to be linked with a move for a striker, but so far nothing has materialised.

In terms of outgoings, Emile Smith-Rowe, who has struggled to nail down a regular place across the past few seasons amid injury struggles, is one player who has slight uncertainty over his future.

However, Mail Sport reported on Friday how the Gunners have rebuffed several approaches for the 23-year-old.

Read KIERAN GILL’S full story below…

A fascinating take from Mikel Arteta at his pre-match press conference.

In fact, Arsenal have scored just once from 63 shots across their past three games.

You don’t need me to tell you that’s not a great conversion rate!

Read Arteta’s full words below…

Bukayo Saka has just been speaking to TNT Sports ahead of today’s clash.

He spoke about the benefits of the winter break and Arsenal’s position in the title race.

Here’s what he had to say:

Well, right now I’m quite relaxed (ahead of the game). But obviously, in an hour or so, you know, we do have a big game coming up. And yeah, we’ll be ready for it.

‘Yeah, I think it was really nice for us (to get away to Dubai). We took time in order to refresh, reconnect with the boys and come back in good spirits and really hungry to get three points.

‘Yeah, we’ve got to be ready for it (the title race). And I believe in my team, I believe we’ll be ready. You know, we know in this league, there’s not much room for error. We’re really focused especially today and in winning and building the momentum again for the next few games.’

It was right back at the start of the season and felt like a strong early marker from Arsenal.

Martin Odegaard put the Gunners ahead from the spot, before they held firm after Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off for two bookable offences.

You can catch the highlights from that game below…

Although nothing is expected of Crystal Palace in a game like today, things aren’t great at Selhurst Park right now.

With injuries continuing to mount up, they’ve only won one of their past 11 games in all competitions.

Wednesday saw a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Everton in their FA Cup third round replay and Roy Hodgson has come under pressure from Palace fans.

While they sit 14th, they are only five points clear of the bottom three and Hodgson won’t want to be drawn in much closer to the drop zone.

It feels like a big month ahead of them.

Just the two changes for Crystal Palace, who remain badly-depleted by injury.

This includes no Michael Olise who is such a big miss for Roy Hodgson’s side.

Dean Henderson replaces Sam Johnstone in goal, while Jean-Philippe Mateta comes in for Odsonne Edouard up-front.

A real blow to Palace this season has been the fact that Olise and Eberechi Eze have only played together on three occasions.

Four changes for Arsenal from their 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool.

The big news is Gabriel Jesus is back and fit in a huge boost for the Gunners, while Oleksandr Zinchenko returns after a calf problem.

Leandro Trossard and David Raya also come in with Jakub Kiwior, Aaron Ramsdale, Reiss Nelson and Jorginho dropping out from the starting XI.

Speaking of Arsenal’s struggles, the Gunners have picked up just four points in their past five Premier League games.

After a stunning 4-3 comeback win over Luton at the beginning of December, which looked like the sort of thing champions do, they have lost ground in the title race.

Defeats to Aston Villa, West Ham and Fulham have been accompanied by a draw against Liverpool in the league and a victory against Brighton.

Arteta’s side are now fourth and five points behind Jurgen Klopp’s side in first.

Plenty for the Spaniard to have thought about over the past 13 days…

Mikel Arteta needs a big performance from his side today after three successive losses across competitions.

The Gunners’ most recent defeat to Liverpool in the FA Cup was particularly galling given they dominated the first half and missed several gilt-edged chances, before the Reds drastically improved in the second half.

They have had 13 days off since that loss though and spent time in Dubai on a warm-weather training camp so you’d expect them to be well-rested today.

Team news is coming up in just over 10 minutes.

Well, despite just 10 teams playing over Saturday, Sunday and Monday, there are still plenty of talking points.

Ivan Toney is set to make his long-awaited return from an eight-month betting ban this evening when his struggling Brentford side host Nottingham Forest.

Liverpool travel to in-form Bournemouth tomorrow without Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, with the Egyptian rather worryingly picking up an injury on Thursday at AFCON.

There’s also the small matter of Arsenal hoping to get back on track after a dismal festive period this lunchtime against Crystal Palace, along with plenty of other talking points.

The full schedule is as follows:

SAT 12:30PM – Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

SAT 5:30PM – Brentford vs Nottingham Forest

SUN 2PM – Sheffield United vs West Ham

SUN 4:30PM – Bournemouth vs Liverpool

MON 7:45PM – Brighton vs Wolves

And welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of Arsenal’s Premier League encounter against Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium.

Be sure to stay with us for all the build-up, team news and updates from the huge clash on Saturday lunchtime.