After the disappointment of Thursday night’s Europa League exit, we have a quick opportunity to return to winning ways ahead of the international break when Crystal Palace visit Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

“We have 11 finals to go and that’s it, that’s the main focus now,” Martin Odegaard told us after our penalty shoot-out defeat to Sporting CP. “It starts already now in the dressing room to recover well and change the focus, so that’s what we have to do.”

Our record in London derbies during 2022/23 has been nothing short of faultless. We head into the weekend’s fixture aiming to become the first team in the capital to win nine derbies in the same season.

A victory would take us eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, with Manchester City hosting Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-final.

Standing in our way are a Crystal Palace side who announced the departure of Patrick Vieira on Friday morning.

The former Gunner will be replaced temporarily by Paddy McCarthy, who led first-team training ahead of the match and will manage our visitors on Sunday.

— Visitors without a win in 2023

A run of 12 matches without a win ultimately contributed to Vieira’s dismissal.

“It is with enormous regret that this difficult decision has been made,” chairman Steve Parish told CPFC.co.uk. “Ultimately, results in recent months have placed us in a precarious league position and we felt a change is necessary to give us the best chance of retaining Premier League status.”

Palace go into the matchweek 12th in the Premier League - though they find themselves just three points clear of the relegation zone.

The Eagles haven’t scored in their last four league matches - but they have proved tough to break down. Palace have drawn with Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool at home in 2023 and frustrated Manchester City for long periods before eventually falling to a 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park last weekend.