Arsenal play Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace on New Year's Day and Arsene Wenger will have to do without Theo Walcott again for the London derby. Three others, though, could make a welcome return from injury for the Premier League match on Sunday.
Arsenal vs West Brom highlights
The Gunners snapped a two-game losing streak on Boxing Day when Olivier Giroud's late header gave the side a battling 1-0 victory over West Brom. While that might not have been the most convincing of performances, Wenger will be relieved to be able to move on from the losses to Everton and Manchester City, which threatened to bring their season to a halt.
With Arsenal needing three points with pretty much every passing game, this Palace encounter will be another crucial one in their Premier League title hopes, and one man who will not be there to help them try and take the three points at the Emirates will be Walcott.
Walcott is still to fully recover from a calf injury, while left-back Kieran Gibbs will also miss the Crystal Palace game after being taken off in the second half of the West Brom win when he clashed knees with Claudio Yacob.
"From the last game, I think we lose Kieran Gibbs," Wenger told Arsenal Player while giving the latest team news. "It's not big damage to his knee but he has inflammation and I don't think he will be available.
"On Wednesday he had a scan, but it just showed inflammation. Hopefully it's a short-term injury.
"Theo Walcott will still be short."
However, Wenger could welcome back Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shkodran Mustafi and Danny Welbeck. Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been, this week, linked with a January move to Liverpool, suffered a thigh problem during the match against City, while Mustafi has been out since early December with a hamstring problem. Welbeck has not played this season after suffering a serious knee injury in May.
"Alex looks like he could join in normal training on Saturday," Wenger added. "Shkodran is back in normal training and he will be back in the squad.
"Danny Welbeck is doing well in training, so we have plenty of options."
Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla are still recovering from their respective long-term injuries.
