Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace (left) celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace at Villa Park

Arsenal handed major boost as Crystal Palace to be without key man for Premier League clash

by · football.london

Arsenal and Crystal Palace will renew acquaintances on Saturday afternoon, four days after the two teams did battle in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.

The Gunners came out on top in that clash at the Emirates Stadium, coming from a goal down at half-time to win 1-0 and secure their place in the semi-finals.

Following the draw, the Gunners will take on Newcastle United in a two-legged affair, with either north London rivals Tottenham or Liverpool awaiting in the final at Wembley.

Selhurst Park is the venue for Saturday's Premier League clash, with Arsenal looking for a similar result to the Carabao Cup clash in order to keep up the pressure on league leaders Liverpool, who face Tottenham in the big game on Sunday afternoon.

Mikel Arteta knows they can cut the gap to the leaders to three points with a win over Palace, albeit having played two games more than the Reds then. They will, however, have to end a run of two straight draws in order to do so.

Arteta has been boosted by the news that the Eagles will be without one of their key players on Saturday. Eagles head coach Oliver Glasner confirmed on Friday that Eberechi Eze will play no part of the clash against Arsenal. He said: "Eze out tomorrow. Nobody back."

Eze is an important member of the Eagles' setup and a lot is expected of him when he's in the team. He was a double for the Carabao Cup clash, but managed to play for just under an hour, although it appears that match time has adversely affected him now with him missing the Premier League clash in south London.

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