The first game of a New Year at Selhurst Park and the Eagles entertain bottom of the table Sheffield United, yet to secure a Premier League win so far this season. We all know the script, it is down to the players not to hand it to them.
DATE
2nd January 2021
KICK OFF
3pm
VENUE
Selhurst Park Stadium, Holmesdale Road, Selhurst, London SE25 6PU
LAST TIME
A Vicente Guaita own goal handed all three points to the visitors who had an excellent first season back in the top flight.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Oliver Norwood (7.6)
OFFICIALS
REFEREE – Stuart Attwell
ASSISTANTS – Marc Perry, Peter Kirkup
FOURTH OFFICIAL – Keith Stroud
VAR – Andre Marriner, Richard West (assistant)
INJURY CONCERNS
PALACE – Gary Cahill, Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly, Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Ferguson, Mamadou Sakho
UNITED – Oliver McBurnie, Sander Berge, Jack O’Connell
SUSPENSIONS
John Lundstram
DISCIPLINARY
RED CARDS – Luka Milivojevic (1), Christian Benteke (1), John Egan (1), John Lundstram (1)
YELLOW CARDS (3+) – John Egan (4) Luka Milivojevic (4), Sander Berge (4), John Lundstram (3), Wilfried Zaha (3), James McArthur (3), Joel Ward (3), Enda Stevens (3)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 01/02/2020 Crystal Palace 0-1 Sheffield United
- 18/08/2019 Sheffield United 1-0 Crystal Palace
- 19/02/2011 Crystal palace 1-0 Sheffield United
- 20/11/2010 Sheffield United 3-2 Crystal palace
- 06/03/2010 Crystal Palace 1-0 Sheffield United
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 28/12/2020 Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester City
- 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
Last FIVE results for United;
- 29/12/2020 Burnley 1-0 Sheffield United
- 26/12/2020 Sheffield United 0-1 Everton
- 20/12/2020 Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Sheffield United
- 17/12/2020 Sheffield United 2-3 Manchester United
- 13/12/2020 Southampton 3-0 Sheffield United
RECORD AGAINST THE BLADES
- Played 55
- Won 21
- Drawn 12
- Lost 22
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Andros Townsend 7.05
- Wilfried Zaha 6.96
- Oliver McBurnie 6.83
- Ethan Ampadu 6.75
ONE TO WATCH
ETHAN AMPADU
FORMER CLUBS – Exeter City, Chelsea, RB Leipzig (loan)
The 20-year-old defensive midfielder is currently on a season long loan from Chelsea and has put in some decent performances despite the poor start to the season for the Blades. Oddly, Ampadu made an appearance for England U16’sin 2015 but changed his allegiance to Wales and has 20 full international caps to date.
KEY CLASH
WILFRIED ZAHA v JOHN EGAN
The Palace man is in fine form so far this season, so much so that he was confident enough to dispatch a far post volley with aplomb to give Palace the lead against Leicester. He will be up against a defender that had a short spell on loan at Selhurst back in 2012 when he was coming through the ranks at Sunderland and has certainly taken the long route to the Premier League.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- United have lost 10 of their last 11 league matches
- Palace have failed to win their last 5 league matches
- United are rooted to the bottom of the table with 2 points from 16 games
- In the last four meetings between the two sides at Selhurst Park there has been a total of 3 goals scored
- The last 3 games between the two sides at Selhurst have been won by a single goal
- Palace have only won 2 of the last 8 meetings between the two sides, both at Selhurst
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Wilfried Zaha (8 – 8th overall)
- ASSISTS – Andros Townsend (3 – 17th overall)
- PASSES – Cheikhou Kouyate (630)
- TACKLES – James McArthur (39 – 12th overall)
- TOUCHES – Cheikhou Kouyate (814)
- SHOTS – Wilfried Zaha (34 – 13th overall)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (47 – 9th overall)
PREDICTION
Fans are feeling very pessimistic ahead of this fixture with the opposition yet to win a league game so far this campaign, but we have every confidence that the point taken against Leicester on Monday will prove invaluable and will see the Eagles push on and secure a win with a goal in each half.
FINAL SCORE: 2-0
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 10/11
- Draw – 12/5
- Away – 11/4
- Both teams to score – 19/20
RESOURCES
