Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere is a major injury doubt for Arsenal's clash with Crystal Palace. Reuters

Jack Wilshere remains an injury doubt to take on Crystal Palace on Saturday as Arsenal seek to recover from their first defeat in two months. It was in the 2-1 reversal at home to Borussia Dortmund in midweek that Wilshere was taken off after a knock to his ankle -- a situation always liable to cause concern after the midfielder’s previous injury problems. While the injury is not serious, Wenger suggested that precautions may be taken.

“Wilshere will be checked later by the medical people and we'll see if I will involve him or not,” Wenger said in his pre-match press conference, according to Arsenal.com.

Better news comes in the form of Mathieu Flamini being available again after being left out against Dortmund following a concussion suffered in last weekend’s win over Norwich City.

The match against Palace could well see Arsenal come face-to-face with Marouane Chamakh for the first time since the striker left the Emirates this summer. The former Bordeaux man endured a disappointing three seasons at the club, something which Wenger put down to the presence of Robin van Persie.

"He had a very good start and after that, he was a little bit the victim of Van Persie," Wenger told Arsenal's official website. "The problem with Marouane Chamakh is once I installed Van Persie in this position as a central striker on his own, he faced competition with a world-class player and that makes you compete.

"But every week you see the level of the guy you compete with is so high that basically you have no chance. That was the basic problem of Marouane Chamakh here."

Chamakh was one of 14 players Palace brought in following their promotion to the Premier League this summer. As he left his job as manager this week following a 4-1 defeat to Fulham, Ian Holloway conceded that all the new arrivals had taken the spirit out of the team. Holloway’s former assistant Keith Millen now has the unenviable task of trying to arrest a run of five-straight defeats when taking on the league leaders.

Crystal Palace (probable)

G: Speroni

D: Wardm Mariappa, Delaney, Moxey

M: O’Keefe, Jedinak, Campana

F: Puncheon, Chamakh, Gayle

Arsenal (probable)

G: Szczesny

D: Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs

M: Flamini, Arteta

Ramsey, Ozil, Cazorla

F: Giroud

Where to watch: The Premier League clash will kick off from the Emirates at 7.45 a.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by the NBC Sports Network, with a live stream available on NBC Sports Live Extra.

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