Arsenal v Crystal Palace, Burnley v Manchester United and more – live!

“The name of Samir Nasri came up and I looked him up,” emails Kelvin. “He is at Antalyaspor, a team in the relegation zone in Turkey, and only seems to have played eight games this season. How does such a talented player go from winning the league to not being picked for a relegation-bound team? Sad case.”

Great to see Gazza looking well:

“Is it just me or does Arsenal’s bench look a bit light on attacking options?” asks Jordan Pickering, via Twitter. Not at all, with no Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott or Welbeck today, there feels little scope to change the game. Youngsters Eddie Nketiah and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who can play further forward, are both options off the bench. Those deals for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan cannot come soon enough:

Read Dominic Fifield’s piece from the Amex Stadium:

Paul Lambert speaks before taking charge of his first match as Stoke City manager. “I have changed little things that will hopefully benefit the team,” he says. They host Huddersfield Town this afternoon. New recruit Moritz Bauer starts, as does Charlie Adam. Peter Crouch, meanwhile, has to make do with a place on the bench.

Meanwhile, in the Championship:

Victor Moses sealed victory but Eden Hazard’s performance was truly majestic. A nice, heart-warming touch by the Belgium international at the end of that match too, handing his shirt to a young Brighton fan who had held aloft a scrap bit of paper with a message that read “Hazard 10, can I please have your shirt”:

Arsenal v Crystal Palace

Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Elneny, Xhaka, Ozil, Wilshere, Iwobi, Lacazette
Subs: Mertesacker, Ospina, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Nelson, Nketiah

Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Fosu-Mensah, Kelly, Tomkins, Van Aanholt, Milivojevic, McArthur, Sako, Cabaye, Zaha, Benteke
Subs: Speroni, Ward, Townsend, Lee, Souare, Kaikai, Riedewald

Burnley v Manchester United

Burnley: Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Cork, Defour, Gudmundsson, Hendrick, Arfield, Barnes
Subs: Lowton, Nkoudou, Westwood, Wells, Lindegaard, Long, Vokes

Man Utd: de Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Young, Pogba, Matic, Mata, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku
Subs: Rojo, Rashford, Romero, Ander Herrera, Shaw, Fellaini, McTominay

Everton v West Bromwich Albion

Everton: Pickford, Kenny, Holgate, Williams, Martina, McCarthy, Schneiderlin, Walcott, Sigurdsson, Vlasic, Tosun
Subs: Keane, Jagielka, Bolasie, Rooney, Gueye, Niasse, Robles

West Brom: Foster, Dawson, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs, Phillips, Krychowiak, Barry, Brunt, Rodriguez, Rondon
Subs: Nyom, Robson-Kanu, Livermore, Myhill, McClean, McAuley, Field

Leicester City v Watford

Leicester: Schmeichel, Amartey, Dragovic, Maguire, Chilwell, Mahrez, Ndidi, James, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy
Subs: Gray, Iheanacho, Hamer, Adrien Silva, Fuchs, Diabate, Benalouane

Watford: Karnezis, Janmaat, Wague, Kabasele, Zeegelaar, Watson, Doucoure, Carrillo, Pereyra, Richarlison, Deeney
Subs: Prodl, Mariappa, Sinclair, Gray, Holebas, Capoue, Okaka

Stoke City v Huddersfield Town

Stoke: Butland, Bauer, Zouma, Shawcross, Pieters, Allen, Fletcher, Adam, Shaqiri, Choupo-Moting, Diouf
Subs: Ireland, Martins Indi, Cameron, Crouch, Sobhi, Grant, Edwards.
Huddersfield: Lossl, Malone, Jorgensen, Schindler, Hadergjonaj, Hogg, Mooy, van La Parra, Pritchard, Ince, Mounie
Subs: Smith, Kongolo, Sabiri, Coleman, Williams, Depoitre, Quaner.

West Ham United v AFC Bournemouth

West Ham: Adrian, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Kouyate, Obiang, Noble, Masuaku, Lanzini, Arnautovic
Subs: Hernandez, Byram, Hart, Martinez, Burke, Cullen, Rice

Bournemouth: Begovic, Francis, S Cook, Ake, Adam Smith, L Cook, Gosling, Daniels, Ibe, Wilson, Fraser
Subs: Boruc, Surman, King, Stanislas, Mousset, Simpson, Taylor

No Mkhitaryan for Manchester United, and no Alexis Sánchez for Arsenal. Mesut Özil does start though, with Wenger confirming a return to a back four. Andros Townsend is back for Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium:

Manchester United have arrived at a rather damp Turf Moor. David de Gea and Antonio Valencia are among those to seek cover while Paul Pogba trudges off the team coach sipping from the straw of his stainless steel and no doubt tailor-made flask. Lovely.

One man who has not travelled is Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on his move to Arsenal:

Brighton are making a fist of it at home to Chelsea after trailing 2-0 inside six minutes. David Luiz is on there, while the hosts are readying Glenn Murray. Can he make the difference? Elsewhere, down in the doldrums of the National League, high-flying Sutton United have taken the lead at home to Dagenham & Redbridge:

Marseille, momentarily at least, closed the gap on the Ligue 1 leaders last night with a 2-0 win at Caen. Nantes and Bordeaux – will they be Malcolm-less? – do battle this afternoon but PSG do not return to action until Sunday, at third-place Lyon, but nevertheless, this is a wonderful dispatch from Paris:

Premier League clubs will mark the death of Cyrille Regis with a minute of applause and the wearing of black armbands at matches this weekend:

What a day we have in store; both Arsenal and Manchester United are strapped in for some red-hot 3pm action, against Crystal Palace and Burnley respectively. Then there’s Theo Walcott’s home bow against West Bromwich Albion, plus the small fry of Paul Lambert’s first game in charge of Stoke City and West Ham will be determined to trump Bournemouth after succumbing to Callum Wilson’s hand in that Boxing Day 3-3 thriller. And breathe.

In the Championship, Aston Villa host Barnsley, leaders Wolves entertain Nottingham Forest while Sunderland do battle with Hull – the latter could prove particularly bleak. Plus, we will keep one eye on Atlético Madrid in action against Girona in La Liga and in the Bundesliga, where RB Leipzig travel to Freiburg. Before all of that gets under way, indulge yourself: