Arsenal kick off their season with the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, less than a week after the comfortable 3-0 Community Shield victory over Premier League champions Manchester City. The Gunners have brought in Barcelona star forward Alexis Sanchez this summer, young talent Calum Chambers and also Mathieu Debuchy to compensate the departures of Bacary Sagna and Thomas Vermaelen. There is some lack of depth in defence though as Per Mertesacker is still unavailable, along with Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.

Theo Walcott is still over a month away from returning from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that ruled him out of the World Cup. Crystal Palace survived in the Premier League last season but they had a big problem in attack as they scored just 33 goals in 38 games. Palace brought in Frazier Campbell to improve their scoring odds, he could play alongside former Arsenal player Marouane Chamakh. Manager Tony Pulis also improved his defence by bringing in Brede Hangeland and Martin Kelly.

Probable starting line-ups:

Arsenal: Szczesny – Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Gibbs – Arteta, Ramsey – Cazorla, Wilshere, Sanchez – Giroud

Palace: Speroni – Ward, Hangeland, Dann, Delaney – Puncheon, Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie – Chamakh, Campbell

My prediction: Arsenal to win 2-0.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Arsenal win – 1/4
Draw – 11/2
Crystal Palace win – 14/1