Arsenal and their powers of bouncebackability will be tested when they make that short trip to South East London to face Crystal Palace in the English Premier League on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger was left baffled and upset at the manner in which Arsenal were beaten by West Ham, who seemed to have their number from minutes one in that opener at the Emirates last Sunday, which the home team lost 2-0.

Maybe it is about going up against a team who usually play in claret and blue, because a couple of seasons ago, Arsenal also went down to Aston Villa.

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Whatever the reason might be, Arsenal cannot now afford another poor performance, and beating Crystal Palace will be an absolute must for them to get their Premier League season started.

"It will certainly be a tighter and tougher league because the quality of teams in the lower half of the table has improved," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

"I believe in every game... what gives you a good indication is if you look at the bench of the team you play against, and when you look at the teams in the second part of the table and you look at their benches, it indicates that you will have tough games.

"I never had many easy matches in my life but it is always getting more difficult, that's true."

Crystal Palace certainly have the ability to bring Arsenal crashing down for a second consecutive game, having made some astute signings in the summer, chief of them being Yohan Cabaye, who was close to joining Wenger's side a few seasons ago, when he was at Newcastle.

Alan Pardew is a manager who knows enough about Arsenal, and if Palace make a game of this by going on the attack as well, we could be in for a goalfest.

"It's difficult to stop them [playing], but we need to play our game," Pardew, whose side won 3-1 at Norwich City in their opening match, said.

"Generally our performance at Norwich was below our best. We want more control in matches this year, which will be interesting for our fans and for the media. We want to wrestle control from Arsenal. It will make a different kind of statement if we were to beat them.

"We are looking forward to match, we're in good shape. Everybody is hustling for positions."

Team news: Crystal Palace: Former Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh will miss the match with a hamstring injury, while Julian Speroni, Frazier Campbell and Kwesi Appiah are also ruled out.

Arsenal: Tomas Rosicky underwent knee surgery and will be sidelined for a few months, while Wenger continues to miss the services of Danny Welbeck. Jack Wilshere is on the road to recovery, and Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin are primed for starts on Sunday.

English Premier League schedule: Arsenal vs Crystal Palace (6 pm IST, 1.30 pm BST, 8.30 am ET) on 16 August, Sunday at Selhurst Park.