No game is easy at this level and taking on an in form Leicester side will prove another tough task but the management must ring the changes and the players must step up.
DATE
28th December 2020
KICK OFF
3pm
VENUE
Selhurst Park Stadium, Holmesdale Road, Selhurst, London SE25 6PU
LAST TIME
Goals from Turkish international Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy sealed all three points for the visitors back in November last year.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – James Maddison (8.4)
OFFICIALS
Referee – Graham Scott
Assistants – Simon Long, Neil Davies
Fourth official – Gavin Ward
VAR – Darren England
Assistant VAR – Simon Bennett
INJURY CONCERNS
PALACE – Gary Cahill, Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly, Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Ferguson, Mamadou Sakho
LEICESTER – Ricardo Barbosa Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu
SUSPENSIONS
None
DISCIPLINARY
RED CARDS – Luka Milivojevic (1), Christian Benteke (1)
YELLOW CARDS (3+) – Jonny Evans (5), Luka Milivojevic (4), Christian Fuchs (4), Nampalys Mendy (4), Youri Tielemans (3), James Maddison (3), Wilfried Zaha (3), James McArthur (3), Joel Ward (3)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 04/07/2020 Leicester City 3-0 Crystal Palace
- 03/11/2019 Crystal Palace 0-2 Leicester City
- 23/02/2019 Leicester City 1-4 Crystal Palace
- 15/12/2018 Crystal Palace 1-0 Leicester City
- 28/04/2018 Crystal Palace 5-0 Leicester City
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 26/12/2020 Aston Villa 3-0 Crystal Palace
- 19/12/2020 Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool
- 16/12/2020 West Ham United 1-1 Crystal Palace
- 13/12/2020 Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- 06/12/2020 West Bromwich Albion 1-5 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Leicester;
- 26/12/2020 Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United
- 20/12/2020 Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Leicester City
- 16/12/2020 Leicester City 0-2 Everton
- 13/12/2020 Leicester City 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
- 10/12/2020 Leicester City 2-0 AEK Athens
RECORD AGAINST LEICESTER
- Played 73
- Won 27
- Drawn 18
- Lost 28
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Jamie Vardy 7.31
- Wesley Fofana 7.16
- Andros Townsend 7.05
- Wilfried Zaha 6.94
ONE TO WATCH
HARVEY BARNES
FORMER CLUBS – MK Dons (loan), Barnsley (loan), West Bromwich Albion (loan)
The 23-year-old seems to have been on the scene for a while now but it was his loan spell at West Brom in 2018 which caught the eye and ensured that he was thrust into the Foxes starting line up on his return. Having represented England at a number of youth levels, but made his first and only full appearance as a substitute against Wales in October.
KEY CLASH
CHEIKHOU KOUYATE v JAMIE VARDY
If Palace are to get anything out of this game then the Leicester striker needs to be kept quite. With doubt around the second centre back position considering injuries and form in recent matches, the Senegal international is one that is likely to be up for the challenge.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Leicester have won 6 of their last 7 away league matches
- In the last 3 games between the two at Selhurst only one side has managed to score
- There have been two red cards in 2 of the last 5 games between the two sides
- Palace have conceded 10 goals in the last 2 games
- Leicester have only lost 1 game in their last 6 with only 1 draw
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Wilfried Zaha (7 – 9th overall)
- ASSISTS – Andros Townsend, Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze (2)
- PASSES – Cheikhou Kouyate (594)
- TACKLES – James McArthur (39 – 10th overall)
- TOUCHES – Cheikhou Kouyate (766)
- SHOTS – Wilfried Zaha (32 – 16th overall)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (46 – 8th overall)
PREDICTION
It is hard to see anything other than an away victory in this match but we hold out hope that there is a delayed response from the players to the humiliating beating at the hands of the champions in the last game at Sehurst. Let us not kid ourselves, the defeat to Villa was harder to stomach and there needs to be a big improvement on the pitch to go close to getting anything from Leicester. Having said that, Palace have often pulled something out of the bag when the pressure is really on.
FINAL SCORE: 1-2
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 13/5
- Draw – 12/5
- Away – evens
- Both teams to score – 8/11
RESOURCES
