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Going back to Maitland-Niles, he played right back against Notingham Forest earlier in the season and did a very good impression of Hector Bellerin in the way he played. He is quick and technically good but obviously you have to take into consideration the opposition but I am happy to see him given another go in that role. What that quite says about Carl Jenkinson I don't know. Maybe he is close to a loan move away somewhere so he has been held back or maybe the manager has lost faith in him which would be pretty sad.

Attentions quickly turn to the FA cup this afternoon, maybe a breather from the Premier League might be a good idea after that quite frankly crazy game at Bournemouth a few days ago. Like most new years resolutions, it did’t take me long to break mine did it? I wanted to express my thoughts on that game but couldn’t find the needed time to do so. It’s probably for the best though as I am not quite sure how my jumbled up brain would have translated that into words

In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) and Tim (@Stillberto) talk about both the 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace which includes Giroud’s extraordinary goal, they also talk about the weird 3-3 draw at Bournemouth. The pair talk Alexis Sanchez, the Xhaka & Ramsey partnership, Lucas Perez introduction. All this and plenty more all discussed in this weeks Arsenal Vision podcast

The partnership seems like a straightforward one: Xhaka sits deep and dictates play and Ramsey bombs forward at opportune moments to link with Giroud and push beyond the lines of attack. Yet against Bournemouth, Ramsey was the player who opted to come deep to gather possession and Xhaka pushed higher up the pitch; this may have been a quick-fix as Arsenal were pushing for an equaliser but it still begs the question as to why Wenger would start Ramsey in the number 10 role and then when forced into a midfield two, that Xhaka would then begin operating closer to goal.

So that is pretty much as what most expected right? Ramsey will be playing out wide and that was the one question mark I had before the line up. But I am very surprised to see Oxlade-Chamberlain not in the team this evening as he started from the bench on Sunday. I guess it was a choice between Ox and Giroud. If Arsene went for Alexis as our central striker then Ox would have replaced him on the left I guess. It's quite a front footed midfield and that will be intriguing to see.

Given that both Coquelin and Ramsey did not start the game on Sunday, it would be safe to suggest that they are likely to start but that brings about plenty of questions. Would Arsene rest Xhaka so he could fit Ramsey, Coquelin and Iwobi in the midfield? I doubt it, especially as Xhaka was so pivotal to our performance on Sunday. I can’t see Arsene moving Iwobi from number 10, even if he is a more natural fit on the flank than Aaron Ramsey is. Not to mention the Coq/Ramsey struggles as a two man midfield base

A wonderful counter attacking move started by a Lucas interception inside our half. Bellerin to Giroud who produced a lovely flick to Xhaka, who passed it on to Iwobi on the left who in turn guided the ball onto Alexis down the left flank. Giroud had a bit of ground to make up and he motored up the pitch, head up, chest puffed forward and when Alexis switched back onto his right and delivered his cross Giroud had seemingly taken a step too far but instincts took over and his in the air flick saw the ball thud off the underside of the bar and into the goal for Oliver Giroud’s best Arsenal goal

Lucas Perez was a hot topic on the latest Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast but the Spaniard has been granted a start today in a rather attacking looking front line, I suspect that Alex Iwobi will move to Ozil's position

So the predictions for Oliver Giroud to start once more makes some sort of sense, even if I wasn’t convinced before kick off in our last match. There were complaints that we did not play wide attackers in that game but when you look at where both Gibbs and Bellerin played, they spent far more time running at their opposite numbers than defending, so we could witness more of the same today but this time they will have more to think about the other way as Palace have a number of quick counter attacking players such as Zaha and Townsend