Will today be a case of those who are not here looming large over the occasion? Alexis Sanchez is almost gone, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may well be on their way if reports are to be believed.

We've put together a special Football Gossip round-up of the Sanchez saga for you to watch, with BBC Sport's David Ornstein and Simon Stone discussing the fine details of the proposed deals.

Palace's only away league victory over Arsenal came on 1 October 1994, when two goals from John Salako - pictured here - helped Alan Smith's side to a 2-1 win. Arsenal were 14th in the table after that, Palace two places below. The Gunners ended that campaign in 12th, while the Eagles were relegated.

But what a great away kit!

Image source, Getty Images

Mesut Ozil's back after a knee problem that has sidelined him since the 2-2 with Chelsea on 3 January. Here's one fan who'll be glad of that, and she won't be alone.

Image source, Getty Images

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at Emirates Stadium

Image source, BBC Sport

Alexis Sanchez t-shirts in a big clearance sale on the way to the Emirates Stadium but the chap selling them told me he hasn’t really had any takers for Sanchez merchandise all season. Even less likely today I reckon.

Saying that, Sanchez was the man who won the game for Arsenal against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on the 28th December with two second-half goals in their 3-2 victory,they’ve played five times since then and not won including, last Sunday’s defeat at Bournemouth.

Palace arrive five points clear of the bottom three with just one defeat in their last 12 Premier League games and it’s a battle of the wise old owls on the touchline today - 68-year-old Arsene Wenger versus 70-year-old Roy Hodgson. Experience is everything.

What do you make of those sides? As ever, we want to hear from you so get in touch at #bbcfootball, or text us to 81111 (UK only) - and please remember to include your name, then we'll publish the best comments in here.

The Gunners make four changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Bournemouth last Sunday. Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Mohamed Elneny and Mesut Ozil are back, while Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Danny Welbeck all make way.

Arsenal XI: Petr Cech, Hector Bellerín, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Alex Iwobi, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette.

Image source, BBC Sport

Palace's side shows just the one alteration from the one that started the 1-0 win over Burnley, with Yohan Cabaye in the place of Jairo Riedewald.

Palace XI: Wayne Hennessey, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Martin Kelly, James Tomkins, Patrick van Aanholt, James McArthur, Luka Milivojevic, Wilfried Zaha, Yohan Cabaye, Bakary Sako, Christian Benteke.

Image source, BBC Sport

Hello and welcome to our coverage of Arsenal v Crystal Palace.

Without any further ado, let's take a look at today's lineups...