Well, here we are, the final game of what has felt like a long season as the Eagles sign off after securing another Premier League campaign, but we will be bidding farewell to some influential people.
TIME/ DATE/ VENUE
- 4.30pm
- 28th May 2023
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
It has been some time since we took on Forest at Selhurst, almost 11 years in fact! The two teams played out a 1-1 draw back in September 2012 with goals from Kagisho Dikgacoi and Dexter Blackstock. The visitors had Adlene Guedioura (later to become an Eagle) sent off not long after the break but battle back to take a point. Only two players started that game who are still at the club – Joel Ward and Wilfried Zaha
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Nathan Ferguson, Wilfried Zaha, Jeffrey Schlupp, James Tomkins and Luka Milivojevic are all expected to miss out through injury.
FOREST – Giulian Blancone, Dean Henderson, Chris Wood, Neco Williams, Omar Richards and Scott McKenna, Jack Colback and Jonjo Shelvey are not expected to feature. Keylor Navas, Danilo, Gustavo Furtado and Jesse Lingard are doubts.
DISCIPLINARY THIS SEASON
RED CARDS – Tyrick Mitchell (1), James Tomkins (1), Cheick Doucoure (1)
YELLOW CARDS (7+) – Cheick Doucoure (9), Marc Guehi (8), Joachim Andersen (8), Jeffrey Schlupp (7), Neco Williams (7), Renan Lodi (7)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 12/11/22 Forest 1-0 Palace
- 29/12/12 Forest 2-2 Palace
- 18/09/12 Palace 1-1 Forest
- 31/03/12 Palace 0-3 Forest
- 10/12/11 Forest 0-1 Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 20/05/23 Fulham 2-2 Palace
- 13/05/23 Palace 2-0 Bournemouth
- 06/05/23 Spurs 1-0 Palace
- 29/04/23 Palace 4-3 West Ham
- 25/04/23 Wolves 2-0 Palace
Last FIVE results for Forest;
- 20/05/23 Forest 1-0 Arsenal
- 13/05/23 Chelsea 2-2 Forest
- 08/05/23 Forest 4-3 Southampton
- 29/04/23 Brentford 2-1 Forest
- 26/04/23 Forest 3-1 Brighton
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 11th in the table with 44 points, while Forest are 16th with 37 points.
RECORD AGAINST FOREST
- Played 64
- Won 16
- Drawn 19
- Lost 29
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Felipe 7.06
- Eberechi Eze 7.02
- Michael Olise 6.95
- Serge Aurier 6.86
ONE TO WATCH
MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE
FORMER CLUBS – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swansea City, Sheffield United
There were many raised eyebrows when newly promoted Forest shelled out a hefty sum for the Wolves midfielder but he has been a huge part of their survival in their first season back in the Premier League. He impressed on loan at Sheffield United the season before which was enough for the club to target the attacking midfielder.
KEY CLASH
EBERECHI EZE v RYAN YATES
The form Eze has been in this season he will be looking for one more classy performance to end the season and hopefully celebrate his call up to England team. He will be up against a midfielder who had a lot of the play in the loss at the City Ground earlier in the season.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
Taiwo Awoniyi could become the first Nottingham Forest player to score in 4 consecutive top-flight appearances since Stan Collymore, who scored 6 in a row in 1995.
Palace have won 1 of their past 9 home league games against Forest (D4 L4). This is the first time they’re hosting them since September 2012, and the first time in the Premier League since April 1995.
Only Bournemouth (15) have conceded more headed goals than Palace (14) in the Premier League this season, with the Eagles only shipping more in a single campaign in 1994-95 (16).
Eberechi Eze has been involved in 14 goals in 37 Premier League games this season (10 goals, 4 assists), more than any other Palace player. Half of these have come in his last 8 appearances (6 goals, 1 assist).
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Eberechi Eze (10 – 16th in PL)
- ASSISTS – Michael Olise (10 – 4th in PL)
- PASSES – Marc Guehi (2098 – 8th in PL)
- TACKLES – Cheick Doucoure (76 – 12th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Marc Guehi (2520 – 13th in PL)
- SHOTS – Eberechi Eze (67)
- FOULS – Jeffrey Schlupp (51 – 5th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Wilfried Zaha/Jordan Ayew (82 – 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (85 – 14th in PL)
TEB PREDICTION
Who knows what this final game will give us with neither team needing anything, and we know this is a celebration for the visiting fans and a day of goodbyes for the home fans. Some we know, some we are not sure of and for those reasons, it is likely to be an emotional afternoon. Here’s hoping for some entertainment on the pitch first before we put our hands together for one final time for the efforts on the whole team and staff, and to those we bid a fond farewell to.
FINAL SCORE: 4-2 to Palace
RESOURCES
