The 3 key battles as Crystal Palace host Arsenal this evening

Christian Benteke vs Gabriel

Like Zaha, Palace teammate Christian Benteke has been in excellent form in recent weeks, netting twice and grabbing an assist in his last 180 minutes of Premier League football.

The Belgium striker has now scored 11 league goals this term, and if these two can strike up a similar partnership to what they did against Chelsea, Wenger’s men will be in for a tricky evening at Selhurst Park, especially as captain Laurent Koscielny will miss out once again.

The 31-year-old came off at half time in their 2-2 draw with Manchester City last weekend with an Achilles problem, and will not be fit to return, which means that Gabriel will likely partner Shkodran Mustafi in the heart of the Gunners defence.

Gabriel has started ten Premier League games this season and did reasonably well against West Ham in midweek, and with the aerial threat of Benteke mirroring that of Andy Carroll’s, he got a taste of what’s to come on Wednesday night, and passed it with flying colours.

However, Benteke has been in fine form recently and will be confident and difficult to defend against, so it’s integral that the Arsenal man keeps his defensively discipline and organisation to thwart the Belgian, especially at set pieces where the Gunners have been hopeless this term.