CRYSTAL PALACE and Arsenal kick off the English Premier League in what should be a Friday night cracker.
Both sides will be desperate to get their season off to a flier and of course, there is the added spice of former Gunners hero Patrick Vieira coming up against his old side as Eagles boss.
Arsenal have made a real statement of intent this summer as they try to force their way back into some sort of title contention and improve on last season's fifth-placed finish when hated rivals Spurs squeezed them out of the top four.
Into the Emirates have come Gabriel Jesus, Marquinhos, Matt Turner, Fabio Vieira and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Well over £100 million has been spent with the promise of more to come.
With Mikel Arteta's squad largely intact, Gooners will be looking for a real push this season.
Palace have been backed by punters to be dark horses this season though after finishing 12th place last term. They've brought in Chris Richards , Malcolm Ebiowei, Sam Johnstone and Cheick Doucoure.
Interestingly, Palace have pummelled their players this pre-season. They've played an incredible nine games including against Liverpool and Manchester United and shouldn't be lacking fitness.
Arsenal have played five, with the last of those an eye-catching 6-0 win over Sevilla, which followed an impressive 4-0 thumping of Chelsea.
How the bookies view it
Arsenal are odds-on favourites here and can be backed at a best-priced 6/7 with SportNation.
Crystal Palace are 18/5 with Coral and the draw is 14/5 with UniBet.
Recent head to heads
Last season, the Eagles soared to a superb 3-0 win at Selhurst Park as can be seen below.
At the Emirates, Arsenal required an injury time equaliser to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw.
Players to watch
Arsenal's marquee summer signing from Manchester City Gabriel Jesus has hit the ground running with goals galore for the Gunners in pre-season friendlies. The Brazilian will have plenty of backers at 2/1 with Paddy Power to score anytime.
Palace stalwart Wilfried Zaha is the man for the big occasion and the former Manchester United player is 11/4 with the same firm to net in Croydon.
Anything else catch the eye?
Arsenal will go into this with plenty of confidence and they look like they were flying in pre-season. But can they really be trusted on the opening day away to one of the trickiest fixtures in the league at odds-on? Probably not.
With the hosts about to play their tenth game of the season, they should be up to speed and they are worth a go on the double chance market of draw or win at 11/10 with 10Bet.
First games of the season under the lights cam often be crackers and with two attacking sides, there should be goals here too. Over 2.5 goals at 10/11 is tempting enough but go for broke here with over 3.5 goals at 47/20 with UniBet – Arsenal alone have averaged four goals a game in pre-season.
This English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal will be played on Aug 5, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Crystal Palace vs Arsenal prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.