Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has admitted that the Emirates Stadium is one of his favourite away grounds to visit in the Premier League in a Twitter question and answer session. The Ivory Coast international has faced Arsenal 15 times in his career across all competitions, winning three times and scoring twice.
It comes amid links with a move to the Gunners in the summer, though it remains to be seen if a potential transfer could be on the cards in January. That's because Mikel Arteta could look to further strengthen his forward ranks in both quality and depth when the window reopens.
While the left side of his attack has strength in depth, with the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Fabio Vieira, the right side has Bukayo Saka as the only senior option as it stands. Someone like Marquinhos or Vieira may be able to step up in that position as the season goes on, but further reinforcements could be an option too.
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When asked about managing the workload of Saka, Arteta replied: "We will try - if the squad and performances allow us, we'll try our best to manage his load and get him on the field in the best possible condition. After November we have something that we have never experienced before [the mid-season World Cup]."
It could all lead back to a move for Zaha, who has less than 12 months remaining on his contract at Selhurst Park. The forward can play across the front three and with quality too, attracting interest from Chelsea in the summer as well.
The former Manchester United striker was almost an Arsenal player back in 2019, when he admitted that the move was on the cards, but the north London side opted for £72million club-record signing Nicolas Pepe instead. Speaking on Jamie Carragher's Greatest Games podcast, he admitted: "I had a conversation with the manager. [Unai] Emery was just like, ‘we don’t really need to go through much’.
"He said he’d seen me play, he knows I can change games at any time and stuff like that. He was like, ‘yeah we’d love to have you’ and I was just like, ‘yeah I’d love to come’.
“The conversation was rather straightforward because I played against him when he was manager of Arsenal. He saw what I could do, saw my work-rate, and what I could add to the team.
“Obviously, it was up to the club who they chose - and they chose Pepe over me.”
The Gunners could get their retribution in landing the forward if they get the chance, also giving him a regular chance to play at one of his self-proclaimed favourite grounds in the Premier League in the process.
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