Bottom-placed Southampton will be looking for their 2nd league win when they hit the road to square up against Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace will look to stay clear of the drop zone with a win against Southampton at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
The home team are 16th on the points table with 17 points in 18 outings. While the Eagles have been far from their best, they have managed to stay out of the drop zone thanks to three wins and eight draws.
Two of their wins have come in their last five games and they are heading into this fixture on the back of a hard-fought draw against one of the top six contenders in Bournemouth.
The visitors are at the bottom of the points table, with just six points in their 18 outings. The Saints have only secured a solitary win so far which came at the start of November.
Southampton are heading into this fixture on the back of a 1-0 loss at the hands of West Ham United. While they did battle hard, the Saints were not clinical enough in the final third. They will have to put up a much better performance to win against the Eagles. The Hard Tackle takes a close look at both teams and tries to predict the tactics they could put to use.
Team News & Tactics
Crystal Palace
Oliver Glasner will be without the services of Matheus Franca, Adam Wharton and Franco Umeh-Chibueze. Meanwhile, Will Hughes is a doubt for this one after being forced out of their last outing.
Marc Guehi is unavailable after picking up a milestone yellow last time out.
Glasner will stick to the 3-4-3 formation and is unlikely to make any major changes to the XI that started in their last outing.
Dean Henderson will continue in goal while the back three will consist of Trevoh Chalobah, Maxence Lacroix, and Chris Richards who will come in for Guehi.
Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell will be the wing-backs for the home team while Jefferson Lerma and Cheick Doucouré will feature in the centre of the park.
Ismaïla Sarr and Eberechi Eze will feature on the flanks while Jean-Philippe Mateta will continue to lead the line.
Probable Lineup (3-4-3): Henderson; Chalobah, Lacroix, Richards; Munoz, Doucoure, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze
Southampton
The Saints will be without the services of Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart, Jack Stephens and Will Smallbone.
The visitors will also line up in a 3-4-3 formation with Aaron Ramsdale in goal. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jan Bednarek and Nathan Wood will form the back three.
Yukinari Sugawara and Kyle Walker-Peters will be the wing-backs. They will be looking to contribute at both ends of the pitch but the priority will be to help out the backline.
In the centre of the park, Lesley Ugochukwu will pair up with Flynn Downes. They will try and control the tempo of the game.
Tyler Dibling and Matheus Fernandes will be the two attackers behind Paul Onuachu who will most likely be leading the line for the Saints.
Probable Lineup (3-4-3): Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood-Gordon; Sugawara, Downes, Ugochukwu, Walker-Peters; Dibling, Fernandes, Onuachu
Key Stats
- Southampton have won 49 out of the 117 matches against Crystal Palace who have 43 wins to their name.
- The Eagles have won each of their last three league games against Southampton.
- Palace have only lost one out of their last 13 matches at home against newly-promoted teams.
- The Eagles’ last defeat against a newly promoted team was a 3-0 loss to Fulham towards the end of 2022.
- The Saints have only won one out of their 18 league games this season.
Player to Watch
Eberechi Eze
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Eze has four goals and three assists in his 18 matches across competitions but only three of those goal contributions have come in the Premier League. This could be an important clash in the relegation battle and the Palace attacking midfielder would surely want to have a big say on the end result.
Prediction
Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton
The Eagles might be heading into this fixture on the back of a draw but they will be confident about getting the desired result against Southampton. They have a better overall record and certainly have enough in their tanks to take down the Saints who have only won once so far. The Hard Tackle predicts a hard-fought 1-0 win for Crystal Palace.
