By Kehinde Okeowo
The Odds favor Arsenal, as they host the Eagles at the Emirate stadium tonight.
Arsenal is miles apart from their less illustrious visitors, in terms of honors won and head-to-head count.
The Gunners have won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 16 FA Community Shields, and a European Cup Winners’ Cup.
In contrast, Crystal Palace are yet to win any major honor, they were runners-up of two FA cups in 1989-90 and 2015-16 seasons and their highest league finish was 3rd place in the 1990-91 season.
According to Football.co.uk, these two clubs have played 44 competitive matches, out of which Arsenal won 26, Crystal Palace won 4, and 14 ended in a draw.
This implies Arsenal leads the head-to-head count with a 59 percent win, Crystal Palace have just 9 percent, while 32 percent were drawn.
If stats are anything to go by, Arsenal is the clear favorite in today’s encounter, but as they say, football is not mathematics.
Arsenal might have won three straight games and drawn one of its last four games, but Gunners fans know better than to trust stats.
The recent 5-0 walloping by Man City and the two uninspiring defeats at home against Chelsea and away to the new English Premier League(EPL) comer, Brentford, are reminders of how fragile Arsenal can be.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace, like the Gunners, are equally unpredictable, you never know the Palace that will show up.
The two teams occupy the 13th and 14th positions on the EPL table, Arsenal are on 10 points with a -5 goal difference, while Crystal Palace have accumulated 7 points and a -3 goal difference
A win is therefore crucial to determining who ends the day above each other. A win for the visitors will take them above Arsenal, who will stay on the same point as Palace but with a weaker goal difference.
For the home team, however, a win presents an opportunity to extend its lead over the visitors by 6 points and move from 13th to 9th position.
A draw does neither team any good, as it will only add a point each to their tallies, but they will remain in their current positions in the league.
Arsenal have the advantage of home support at the Emirate Stadium, better head-to-head record, and, the more gifted players, they are, therefore, expected to win the encounter.
But Palace is a dangerous underdog, who have proven over time that it can take the scalp of any big team.