This is a very open start. Calum Chambers does well to dispossess Wilfried Zaha but Arsenal can't keep hold of it and Yohan Cabaye then screws a shot well wide.

Wear what you want as long as it helps you play better. Christmas jumpers and jeans if needs be...

TonyTimes2: Wearing gloves, for me, is a big sign of the temperature.

Steve Tudor: The glove 'controversy' amuses me. In the 70s didn't lots of players wear tights under their shorts?

Alexis Sanchez turns away from a man on the edge of the area but instead of finding Hector Bellerin free on his right he comes inside and loses it. Calum Chambers - who has started well - wins it back and it ends up with Granit Xhaka fizzing a shot over the top.

Image source, Getty Images

Shaheed Williams: 810 Premier League games later and Wenger still cannot zip up that jacket.

3menandafooty: Everytime I watch Arsenal in the winter Arsene cannot do his coat zip up ... it's also when their form dips.

FionnArsenal: The problems don't just lie with Wenger, the whole board of directors and ownership needs to be restructured. Kroenke views Arsenal FC not as a football club, but as a business solely for making money.

Wilfried Zaha runs at the Arsenal defence again, Ruben Loftus-Cheek puts in a fine overlapping run which takes Calum Chambers away, but Zaha's pass the other way to Christian Benteke is no good.

He won't stop asking for the ball though - that's what I like about Zaha this season. He may lose the ball a few times in a row but he'll keep on running at the opposition.

Remember to include names on text messages to 81111

Brilliant from Wilfried Zaha as he receives the ball surrounded by three Arsenal men but somehow gets out of dodge and nearly sets Palace on their way. What an exciting player this man is.

At the other end Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil almost complete a one-two inside the area. Good open start.

Image source, Reuters

Arsenal bossing all of the early play as Palace sit back, a proper 4-4-2 from the hosts with Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke up front. When they do get it, it goes big early.

If you're cold, wear gloves, surely? I've never understood the criticism of that. Oh yes - ARSENE WENGER CAN'T ZIP UP HIS COAT!

I've missed that.

Away we go!

Matthew Upson
Former England defender on 5 live

Six Arsenal players wearing gloves ...

Wearing gloves, for me as a centre-back, is a big sign of weakness.

Liam Gillan: Since the birth of my son on December 2nd, Palace hasn't lost a game! Tonight will not change that! Come on Palace!

ThatchamBoy: Fancy Zaha to earn his move away tonight. 2 -1 Palace

Here come the sides! Selhurst Park at peak volume as ever.

Sreekanth Vedula: It’s a disaster signing an average defender for £75 million ... is football going forward or backward ... Saints must be laughing all the way to the bank ... they expecting the money was one thing and Liverpool paying was altogether a different thing.

Richard Browne: VVD's value went up because of a two horse race between City and Liverpool to buy him.

Selhurst Park filling up now. I've not seen the mascot eagle doing his pre-match rounds. May be too cold for him/her to fly...

Rezaa Sait: Wenger should give Ospina another chance. Cech has been woeful

Ricky Kelehar: Johnny Magrino at 19:25 - Sounds like a character from Toast of London. Has he seen the Spurs bench recently? Our squad is miles better!

Neil Moriarty: Any Arsenal fan that hasn't lowered their expectations for the team is as delusional as Arsene Wenger.

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson: "The players have been working hard and showing great determination to get the results of late but we have a real testing game tonight.

"If we are going to get points we need to play at our very best and believe we can win."

Matthew Upson
Former England defender on 5 live

This kind of game has been the Achilles heel for Arsenal - matches that might not be pretty.

A win tonight takes Arsenal back to within a point of the top four - is it just one place up for grabs do we think?