Arsenal v Palace - Team news preview

Palace travel to Highbury tonight to face an erratic Arsenal side desperate to hang onto the coat-tails of Manchester United.

We also need the points badly, as a first win at Highbury since 1994 would lift us five points clear of the bottom three.

Such a scenario seems pie-in-the-sky, but Iain Dowie will be well aware that while Arsenal can be sublime one day, they can be vulnerable the next.

At the start of the season, getting anything from an away match with the Gunners would have been unthinkable. But Palace were unlucky to only draw the home match, and both Southampton and West Brom have come away from North London with a point.

Dowie will be boosted by the return to the side of Gonzalo Sorondo, after the Uruguayan defender was forced to sit out the Bolton defeat due to suspension.

The boss will surely revert to the trusted 4-5-1 set-up in an attempt to thwart Arsenal's flowing style. And with the return to full-fitness of Finnish pair Aki Riihilahti and Joonas Kolkka, we could see a similar line-up to that which took on the Gunners in November.

Palace's only hope is to take the game to Arsenal, and the Eagles will be boosted by the news that the home side's defensive woes continue.

Sol Campbell is still out for them and Ashley Cole is expected to also sit out the game. Their places will be taken by Pascal Cygan and Gael Clichy, respectively - while Kolo Toure will return after suspension.