Paul Merson and Chris Sutton agree on Arsenal vs Crystal Palace prediction as problem identified

Paul Merson and Chris Sutton have predicted who will walk away victorious from Arsenal's clash with Crystal Palace this weekend. The Gunners will welcome Roy Hodgson's side to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Mikel Arteta looks to return to winning ways.

Arsenal head into the fixture off the back of three successive defeats across all competitions. The north Londoners were defeated by West Ham and Fulham at the end of December before Liverpool dumped them out of the FA Cup at the start of January.

After a rocky festive period, Arsenal jetted off to Dubai for a warm-weather winter training camp where Arteta put his players through their paces. While the Gunners soaked up some vitamin D in the Middle East, Palace had an FA Cup third-round replay at Goodison Park to prepare for.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Everton booked a place in the next round on Wednesday. With just a few days rest, Merson has backed Arsenal to win 2-0 on Saturday. In his weekly column for SportsKeeda, the former Gunners midfielder wrote: «Arsenal have got to win this game to stay in the Premier League title race, it's as simple as that.

»They'd have looked at the games against West Ham United and Fulham as winnable games but somehow managed to lose both, making this one a much more difficult contest than what should be the case. I expect them to win this one, but the pressure is well and truly on for Mikel Arteta and his squad."

Merson added: «Michael Olise has been linked with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United since the turn of the year and also rejected a move to Chelsea last summer. I love his work ethic and think he's a special player, so he should be fine no matter where he lands up.»

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