Mikel Arteta did something for the first time in 393 days vs Crystal Palace and it worked for Arsenal

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Arsenal picked up a hard-fought win against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The Eagles are a very difficult team to face. They have been brilliant for several months now and made it really hard for the Gunners early on at the Emirates.

Many Arsenal players, including Martin Zubimendi, were sloppy in the first half, but a superb goal from Eberechi Eze against his old club helped win the game.

Before the derby, what surprised many was that Mikel Arteta made no changes to his side. That hadn’t happened for over a year.

Mikel Arteta named an unchanged Arsenal XI for the first time in 393 days vs Crystal Palace

Arsenal’s squad depth has been earning a lot of praise in recent weeks, and rightly so.

The Gunners signed eight new players in the summer, and that has increased the competition for places within the side.

Every player in the squad wants to start games, but Arteta has made changes in almost every fixture this season – either for tactical reasons or due to injuries.

However, against Crystal Palace on Sunday, the Arsenal manager named an unchanged lineup in the Premier League for the first time since September 2024 – 393 days ago.

The last time he did that was against Leicester City. Arsenal won that game 4-2, and they got all three points against the Eagles on Sunday as well.

By doing so, Arsenal have extended their record to 10 wins and a draw in their last 11 games in which they have named an unchanged starting lineup.

READ MORE: Forget Eberechi Eze, Arsenal fans all think £34m star was the ‘best player’ vs Crystal Palace

Mikel Arteta will make plenty of changes in Arsenal’s next game

Arsenal mostly have a settled starting line-up right now.

Paul Merson claimed recently that Arteta has just one dilemma every week – whether to start Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard on the left wing.

That will be the case in the coming months as well, but Arsenal’s next game will see plenty of changes.

The Gunners take on Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup midweek, and we expect players like Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ben White and Ethan Nwaneri to all start that game.

However, in the Premier League clash against Burnley next weekend, we won’t be surprised if Arteta names the same starting line-up as the one he chose against Palace.