Palace got off to a bad start to their festive fixtures, after an impressive display in the first half against champions Manchester City, the London outfit found themselves on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline.
The Eagles boss Neil Warnock once again bemoaned another poor decision from the match officials, which saw Palace lose a goal to a clearly incorrect offside decision against James McArthur. A goal that Warncok thought could have changed the complexion of the game for the visitors in the second half having found themselves two goals down.
Tis’ the season however and Palace must look forward to another difficult game in the form of a visiting Southampton side who are exceeding all expectations so far this season and have regularly appeared in the top three of the Premier League. Former academy product Nathaniel Clyne is set to line up against the club that produced the English right back who has recently broken into the senior set up for the national side.
Ronald Koeman has picked right up where Mauricio Pochettino left off. The acquisition of relatively unknown players such as Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane have been fantastic business for the club in replacing big names such as Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert who all departed the club in the summer. Fraser Forster and Dusan Tadic also joined the Saints in August and have also proven to be valuable assets in what has been a sensational season for the St. Mary’s faithful so far.
With three games in the next seven days, Palace must focus on picking up points as they find themselves level on points with 18th placed Burnley after seeing a five point cushion slip away in the last few weeks. With the rapidly approaching transfer window, Eagles fans will want to see business done sooner rather than later with the need for a striker becoming more evident than ever.
Palace have been linked with Senegalese left back Papa Soaure from Lille and loan moves for Strikers Bafatembi Gomis and Yaya Sanogo from Swansea and Arsenal respectively. An audacious move for former Palace loanee Ashley Cole has been reported and subsequently rubbished in recent days over the former England International rejoining the Eagles after a dismal start to life in Italy with Roma.
Team News
Crystal Palace – Palace will be without Marouane Chamakh after a recurrence of the hamstring injury that has seen him miss a portion of the season already. The Moroccan’s return date is yet to be revealed. Adrian Mariappa and Jonny Williams may be in contention for a place on the bench as Neil Warnock will be looking to shuffle his pack ahead of a busy few weeks.
Southampton – Dusan Tadic is unlikely to make the trip to SE25 with a muscular injury having kept him out of their last couple of games. Jay Rodriguez continues his recovery from his knee ligament injury that will more than likely see him out of action until January at the earliest. Jack Cork has an ankle problem that will cause him to miss out.
Analysis & Prediction
Predicition for Southampton – 4th
Southampton have exceeded all expectations so far this season but with teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool tailing off from their usual top four battle, it can allow teams such as West Ham United and Southampton to capitilise. As long as they stay injury free and Grazianno Pelle recaptures the form he showed at the beginning of the season their fate will be in their own hands.
EPL Index prediction – draw
Who Scored prediction – draw
Paddy Power – home win 13/5 – draw 9/4 – away win 11/10
My prediction – home win
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