Crystal Palace v Arsenal: Premier League – live!

10 seconds or so. Aubameyang makes his way down the left and wins a corner off Kelly. Corner. The ball might have gone out before Aubameyang played it off Kelly, but here we are. Ah, but it’s all a waste of time, as the referee spots some pushing in the box and it’s a free kick to Palace. Stand down.

And we’re off! A fine atmosphere at Selhurst, as there almost always is. What a fine ground. Arsenal get the ball rolling. It’s the first time they’ve named the same side in successive Premier League matches for a year. Oh Unai, we hardly knew ye.

No word from Hodgson. Perhaps he talked earlier; if so, your super soaraway Guardian MBM missed it. Anyway, the teams are out! Palace are in their red and blue shirts, while Arsenal sport second-choice yellow, an ersatz tribute to the famous bruised banana kit of the George Graham era. We’ll be off sooner than you think.

Mikel Arteta speaks. “It’s an early kick off, and a very difficult ground to come. Hopefully we are ready from the first minute. I want everybody ready. The team can compete, and I have the squad to make changes if we need to do that. It’s a great atmosphere here, it will be tough. It is incredible what Roy Hodgson has done in the game.”

Palace welcome back Wilfried Zaha, while captain Luka Milivojevic is suspended. All in all, there are four changes to their side from last week’s FA Cup defeat to Derby County. Zaha, Vincente Guaita, James Tomkins and James McArthur step up, taking the place of Milivojevic, Wayne Hennessey, Brandon Pierrick and Connor Wickham.

Four changes for Arsenal to the side that beat Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday evening. Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Lucas Torreira and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang take the places of Emiliano Martinez, Rob Holding, Matteo Guendouzi and Reiss Nelson.

Crystal Palace: Guaita, Kelly, Tomkins, Cahill, Riedewald, Meyer, McCarthy, Kouyate, McArthur, Zaha, Ayew.
Subs: Dann, Hennessey, Tosun, Wickham, Woods, Kirby, Pierrick.

Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Papastathopoulos, Luiz, Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Pepe, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Subs: Holding, Nelson, Martinez, Willock, Guendouzi, Martinelli, Saka.

Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire).

Two years ago, give or take a couple of weeks, Arsenal went four goals up against Crystal Palace in 22 minutes. They ended up winning that one 4-1, but since then, they’ve not had the best of it against their London rivals. A 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park in October 2018. A 2-3 reverse at the Emirates last April. And they shipped a two-goal lead at home in October, Palace coming back for a draw that hammered one of the last nails in Unai Emery’s coffin. Arsenal weren’t in too good a shape back then.

But times change. Palace have won only one of their last seven matches in all competitions, while Arsenal are two on the bounce, a record that might not be much to write home about, until you consider the Gunners had only previously won one in 15. Under new boss Mikel Arteta, their tails are up, even if they relied on the profligacy of Leeds United in the cup on Monday night.

So Palace are cooling; Arsenal are hotting up. But neither are particularly predictable right now, and it’s too early to establish trends. There have been 23 goals in the last five matches between these two, so good luck working out how it’ll all come down this lunchtime. The Premier League is back after the FA Cup interregnum. It’s a London derby. It’s on!

Kick off: 12.30pm.