It is about time that Palace played Southampton and this will be the eighth meeting between the two sides in three seasons.
As well as Premier League match ups, the Eagles have drawn the Saints twice in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup with only one of the last five meetings taking place in South London.
Claude Puel brings his Southampton side to Selhurst Park in fine form. They are currently fighting on three separate fronts with progress in the League Cup as well as a chance to progress in the Europa League alongside Premier League duty.
In contrast, Alan Pardew will be only to well aware that he and his team are on the brink after six straight losses and no win in seven see Palace in a terrible run of form. There has been plenty of speculation during the week of a potential replacement should the result of this match not favour the Eagles following the comical goal fest in South Wales last time out.
TEAM NEWS
CRYSTAL PALACE – Connor Wickham (knee), Loic Remy (calf), Jonathan Benteke (knee) and Pape Souare (leg) will all miss out while Steve Mandanda (knee) could return to the starting line up after missing the last couple of games.
SOUTHAMPTON – Dusan Tadic (nose), Alex McCarthy (hamstring), Matt Targett (hamstring) and Jeremy Pied (knee) are all unavailable for selection.
ACTION REPLAY
The last meeting between the two sides took place at St Marys in the League Cup earlier this season. The hosts took the lead from the penalty spot courtesy of Charlie Austin and went on to seal their safe passage to the next round with a second from Jake Hesketh. It will be remembered by Palace fans as the game in which captain Scott Dann left the pitch early on because of a hamstring injury that kept him out of the starting line up for several weeks.
PODCAST
Listen to my chat with Palace legend Ian Wright about Palace and Pardew this week.
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 21/09/2016: Southampton 2-0 Crystal Palace
- 15/05/2016: Southampton 4-1 Crystal Palace
- 09/01/2016: Southampton 1-2 Crystal Palace
- 12/12/2015: Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton
- 03/03/2015: Southampton 1-0 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 26/11/2016: Swansea City 5-4 Crystal Palace
- 19/11/2016: Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester City
- 05/11/2016: Burnley 3-2 Crystal Palace
- 29/10/2016: Crystal Palace 2-4 Liverpool
- 22/10/2016: Leicester City 3-1 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Southampton;
- 30/11/2016: Arsenal 0-2 Southampton
- 27/11/2016: Southampton 1-0 Everton
- 24/11/2016: Sparta Prague 1-0 Southampton
- 19/11/2016: Southampton 0-0 Liverpool
- 06/11/2016: Hull City 2-1 Southampton
FORM PLAYERS (courtesy of Who Scored)
Top two rated players from each team so far this season;
- Wilfried Zaha (7.59)
- Christian Benteke (7.57)
- Virgil van Dijk (7.47)
- Charlie Austin (7.14)
ONE TO WATCH
NATHAN REDMOND
The summer signing from Norwich City moved to the South Coast for a fee of around £10million and has shown why Southampton chose to bring him to the club. The twenty-two year old began his career in the Birmingham City youth academy in 2002 and made his first team debut in 2010. After making over sixty appearances and scoring seven goals, the exciting winger moved to Carrow Road where he made over a century of appearances and scored eleven goals. He has represented England at all youth levels from the under 16s to the under 21s.
PREDICTION
Final league position – 6th
Even though the South Coast club have experienced yet another summer of change, it is business as usual at St Marys. It is incredible to look at how they continue to push at the right end of the table regardless of the players that move on and the manager in charge. A competition Europa League campaign could see them make it through to the next round and they now have an appearance in the League Cup semi finals to look forward to after their recent excellent win at Arsenal. There is no reason to suggest that Southampton will not continue the great form they are experiencing and finish just outside the top five.
- TEB prediction – home win
- St Marys Musings prediction (see link below) – draw win
- Who Scored prediction – away win
BETTING ODDS (courtesy of Paddy Power)
- Home – 11/5
- Draw – 23/10
- Away – 13/10
- Both teams to score 8/11
FIND OUT WHAT THE GUYS FROM ST MARYS MUSINGS TOLD TEB THIS WEEK IN THE SAINTS VIEW
