Arsenal kick off their 2017 in the knowledge that a win over Crystal Palace will move them back up to third in the Premier League following Liverpool’s New Year’s Eve beating of Manchester City.The Gunners have wobbled a bit of late, but they remain at the upper end of the division and will fancy their chances of claiming the title come May if they can keep pace with Chelsea over the coming weeks.They face Palace at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon, with Sam Allardyce set to oversee his second game in charge of the Eagles. The south London club kicked off their new manager’s reign with a 1-1 draw at Watford, and ‘Big Sam’ will surely be eager to get his first win in such a high-profile match.

With the games coming thick and fast, Arsene Wenger has opted for a couple of changes, with the most eye-catching being Lucas Perez's involvement. The summer signing has had a relatively underwhelming opening to his Gunners career and will be eager to get back on course as soon as possible. With Mesut Ozil missing out, Alexis Sanchez drops from his striker role to play off of Olivier Giroud, who scored on Boxing Day vs. West Brom.

Allardyce has gone strong once again as Palace boss, with Wilfried Zaha picked ahead of his looming exit to represent the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations. Christian Benteke leads the line and is sure to be eager to make up for his penalty miss in the last match, while Mathieu Flamini starts against his old club.

[ad_pod id='now-tv' align='centre']

[ad_pod id='playwire' align='center']