We turn our attentions away from Premier League action momentarily on Tuesday night (8pm) when Crystal Palace return to north London for a second successive Carabao Cup quarter-final clash.
12 months ago Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick saw us advance into the final four, and we’ll be hoping that lightning strikes twice a year later as we aim to enjoy a similar day at Wembley to what the Eagles experienced back in May when they lifted the FA Cup.
The victors after 90 minutes, or via a penalty shootout if necessary, will be handed a two-legged affair with Chelsea in the semi-finals, the stage we fell at last year as we look to finally get our hands on a trophy we haven’t had our name engraved onto since 1993.
Eagles eye more cup joy
While they tasted defeat at this stage of the Carabao Cup to ourselves 12 months ago, major silverware finally appeared in the Selhurst Park trophy cabinet after a 120-year wait in the form of the FA Cup in May, and having had a taste for that, Oliver Glasner added the Community Shield for good measure.
The Eagles have reached the last eight of this competition in impressive fashion. In the third round they overcame local rivals Millwall 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in which their opponents equalised in stoppage time. Then, in round four, they thrillingly beat Liverpool at Anfield, eliminating the record 10-time winners of the competition, and last season’s runners-up, with a sumptuous 3-0 victory.
These are probably the best they have ever experienced. Not only are they the holders of two domestic trophies and appearing in Europe for the first time, qualifying for the play-off round of the UEFA Conference League last week. However, they have won just once after eight European games this term, a trend that continued last weekend as they suffered a shock 4-1 defeat at Leeds United on Saturday.
What the managers say
Arteta: “I think the only week that we had to prepare was last week. The rest, I think, until February at least, is going to be like this [two games a week]. We are used to it, to face it. We have a beautiful opportunity to go into the semi-final of a competition, so we’ll be ready.
“Now the most important one is the Carabao Cup against Palace, because it’s a nice game that we have. We’re taking it game by game. Winning and performing every game helps you for the next one, so now full focus on that.”
Glasner: “I think to fix a round when a Conference League is played just shows also the [lack of] respect for the Conference League because they would never fix a round when there is a Champions League round or a Europa League round. So I think that’s maybe the problem for the game we have to play now, and why we have to play in three days again.
“But it shows that we are in four competitions and we want these games, we want this amount of games, and it’s not to complain about it. We are never complaining about the amount of games.”
Team news
Our defensive options are depleted with Ben White (hamstring), Gabriel (thigh) and Cristhian Mosquera (ankle) all missing, and Kai Havertz and Max Dowman remain out with their knee and ankle issues respectively.
A few key players will be missing for the Eagles, including Daniel Munoz who has missed the last three league games with a knee injury, Ismaila Sarr is on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Daichi Kamada suffered a hamstring injury last week that will see him out of action until February.
Jean-Philippe Mateta has been managing his own knee issues of late which has seen his minutes impacted, while Cheick Doucoure is working his way back from a similar issue. Fringe players Rio Cardines, Caleb Kporha and Chadi Riad are all out.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: Palace boast the second-lowest possession stats in the Premier League, so they fall into the category of being a counter-attacking team, especially given the direct speed of their attacks (2.16 metres per second) is the fastest of all 20 top-flight sides.
The Eagles are almost certain to use a 3-4-2-1 shape, and that formation is usually incredibly robust without the ball. Midfielders apply good pressure to the man on the ball, with those around them working hard to limit passing options. Blocking off the central spine is Palace’s forte, something they did extremely well at Emirates Stadium in October.
On the ball, Palace love to raid through their wing-backs, who tend to hug the touchline. This makes the pitch feel stretched, leaving space on the inside for their twin No.10s to get onto the ball inside opposition territory. Also, their xG from set pieces is second only behind ourselves.
Mateta must be closely shackled. His expected goals tally is second only to Erling Haaland, and that is because he is a magnet for ‘big chances’, enjoying more than 20 so far. The front man is helped by having creative players like Adam Wharton and Yeremy Pino in and around him, who have a keen eye for precise through balls.
Facts and stats
We have won seven of our last eight meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions, already beating the Eagles 1-0 in the Premier League this term.
Crystal Palace eliminated us in the 1970/71 League Cup, but have since lost all three of their meetings with us in the competition – both legs of the 1992/93 semi-final and last season’s quarter-final.
We have won our last two League Cup quarter-final ties, including the 3-2 win against Palace at this stage last season. We’ve had a player score a hat-trick in both of their last two quarter-finals in the competition – Gabriel Jesus last season, and Eddie Nketiah against Sunderland in 2021/22.
Palace have reached the League Cup quarter-finals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993.
We beat Brighton 2-0 in the fourth round of this season’s League Cup – we’ve not won consecutive games against fellow Premier League sides in the competition since a run of three in the 2010/11 campaign (Tottenham, Newcastle and Wigan).
Crystal Palace beat reigning Premier League champions Liverpool in the last round of the League Cup – the only team to eliminate both of the previous season’s top two in a single campaign are West Ham United in 2021/22 (Man City and Man Utd).
Ethan Nwaneri has scored four goals in his five starts in the League Cup. Since the start of last season, only Diego Gomez and Cody Gakpo (5 each) have scored more in the competition than the 18-year-old.
Since Eddie Nketiah’s League Cup debut in October 2017, no player has scored more goals in the competition than the Crystal Palace forward (13).
Match officials
Stuart Attwell will be the man in the middle for this cup tie, which is just his third Gunners game in the past three seasons. He refereed our Community Shield success over Manchester City in August 2023 before overseeing our controversial 1-0 loss at Newcastle United the following October. He last pitched up in N5 back in September when we drew 1-1 with City.
He was also the referee for Palace’s FA Cup triumph against the same opposition back in May, and they have won on each of the last three occasions Attwell has handled a fixture of theirs, including a 3-0 win at Aston Villa in August.
VAR will not be in use at this stage of the competition.
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Andrew Kitchen
Recent visits from Palace
We are unbeaten in our last eight home games against the Eagles, and it was just 58 days ago that they last pitched up in N5 but were beaten 1-0 thanks to Ebere Eze’s acrobatic finish against the side he will always be revered at.
The sides played out a 2-2 draw in April when Jakub Kiwior opened the scoring before Eze struck for the visitors, and while Leandro Trossard got us back in front before the break, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s clever clip into an empty net seven minutes from time all-but ended our title ambitions.
The previous December saw us run out 3-2 victors at the same stage of this competition, with Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick sandwiched between goals for Mateta and ex-Gunner Eddie Nketiah.
Live coverage
Tune into Live From N5 an hour before kick-off for all the best build-up ahead of a big night of cup football!
Olympic silver medallist sprinter Daryll Neita and radio DJ Ellie Prohan will join Timbsy and Jeremie Aliadiere for all the pre-game fun and laugh, which will see interviews with David Raya and Gabriel Jesus.
Another Hero of the Week will be crowned, plus there will be another inductee in the Live From N5 Hall of Fame, before Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke provide live commentary on proceedings.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live, wherever you are in the world.
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