The Premier League returns this weekend which means Palace are back in action as third placed Liverpool are the visitors to South London for the televised early Saturday kick off.
Roy Hodgson takes charge of his Eagles side against former club Liverpool where he had a short stint in 2010 but his only interest will be seeing Palace take something from the game.
The international break arrived at perhaps an inopportune moment for both sides. The Eagles took all three points from Huddersfield while Liverpool handed Watford a thrashing at Anfield so both will be keen to pick up where they left off.
This is a fixture that has created plenty of interest over the years which has made it one of the more attractive match ups in the Premier League calendar. The Reds have certainly not had it all their own way with the Eagles springing more than a couple of surprises along the way and the Selhurst Park faithful will be hoping for something similar this time around.
Whatever happens, Palace will end the weekend outside the bottom three with the way the fixtures work out. Hopefully Liverpool will have more than one eye on their all English European date with Manchester City in midweek.
TEAM NEWS (courtesy of Physio Room)
CRYSTAL PALACE – Jeffrey Schlupp (ankle), Alexander Sorloth (hamstring), Joel Ward (muscle), Julian Speroni (knee), Scott Dann (knee), Jason Puncheon (knee) and Bakary Sako (ankle) are all unlikely to feature. Wilfried Zaha (knock) and Connor Wickham (knee) will both face late fitness tests.
LIVERPOOL – Andrew Robertson (dead leg), Joe Gomez (ankle), Emre Can (back) and Dejan Lovren (ankle) are all doubts.
ACTION REPLAY
The last time the two sides met at Selhurst Park was back in October 2016. The visitors took an early lead through Emre Can but Palace were level within minutes thanks to James McArthur. In what was a crazy first half, Dejan Lovren gave Liverpool the lead again only for McArthur to level things up but Joel Matip scored to give the Reds a half time lead. The second half could not match the same goal action but Roberto Firmino sealed all three points for the Anfield men.
Who Scored man of the match – Philippe Coutinho (9.3)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 19/08/2017 Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace
- 19/07/2017 Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
- 23/04/2017 Liverpool 1-2 Crystal Palace
- 29/10/2016 Crystal Palace 2-4 Liverpool
- 06/03/2016 Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 17/03/2018 Huddersfield Town 0-2 Crystal Palace
- 10/03/2018 Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace
- 05/03/2018 Crystal Palace 2-3 Manchester United
- 25/02/2018 Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- 10/02/2018 Everton 3-1 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Liverpool;
- 17/03/2018 Liverpool 5-0 Watford
- 10/03/2018 Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool
- 06/03/2018 Liverpool 0-0 Porto
- 03/03/2018 Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle United
- 24/02/2018 Liverpool 4-1 West Ham United
FORM PLAYERS (courtesy of Who Scored)
Top two rated players from each team so far this season;
- Mo Salah 7.74
- Roberto Firmino 7.51
- James Tomkins 7.23
- Wilfried Zaha 7.19
ONE TO WATCH
MO SALAH
Former clubs – El Mokawloon, Basel, Chelsea, Fiorentina (loan), Roma
Born in Gharbia, Egypt in 1992, Salah began his football career as a youth player at El Mokawloon, a club based in Nasr City, Cairo. He made his first team debut in 2010 and went to make almost 40 appearances for the club before moving to Swiss side FC Basel in 2012. It was there that his performances were noticed and Chelsea were the first to secure his services in 2014 but opportunities were limited at Stamford Bridge. After successful loan spells in Italy, opted for a move to Roma in 2016. A move to Anfield took place in June 2017 for a fee that could rise to around 50 million Euros.
Salah has over fifty international caps for his country after appearing at under 20 and under 23 levels. He made his debut against Sierra Leone in 2011.
PREDICTION
Final league position – 3rd
Had Liverpool not allowed United to get the better of them a few weeks back, they would most likely had gone on to take the runners up spot in the Premier League. Even after that result, it is not beyond them but with fixtures running out and minds turning to the latter stages of the Champions League, a third placed finish would not be disastrous.
- TEB prediction – draw
- Who Scored prediction – away win
BETTING ODDS (courtesy of Paddy Power)
- Home – 11/2
- Draw – 10/3
- Away – 4/9
- Both teams to score – 8/11
Read my regular column over at FansBet including thoughts on the potential impact of the win at Huddersfield
