Alan Pardew has confirmed that Crystal Palace Player of the Year Scott Dann will be captaining the side this weekend in the visit to Anfield for the Eagles’ final Premier League away game of the season.
The former Newcastle United manager confirmed this when talking to the press in his pre-match press conference and said that he will take captain duty from Jedinak and Delaney who have held the armband in recent weeks, meaning that Dann will captain against Steven Gerrard who plays his final game at Anfield before moving to L.A. Galaxy in the summer.
“It is a big occasion for Scott, he is a Liverpool fan and a big admirer of Steve Gerrard,” Pardew said.
“Dann looks up to and admires Steven a lot so this will be an emotional game for Scott and I am embracing the emotion.”
The centre half joined the Eagles last January and made an instant impact, becoming a fan favourite throughout the entire season; he managed to pick up the clubs Player of the Year trophy at Fairfield Halls on Wednesday night, coming on top of Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon, James McArthur and Joel Ward who were also nominated for the top prize of the night.
Talking about team news, the Palace gaffer said that the whole squad are fit and have trained well all week since the defeat to Manchester United at Selhurst Park last weekend. He also revealed that there could be more changes to his team this weekend, with a hint of fringe and young players possibly being included in the side that travel and feature Anfield.
“It is going to be an interesting game, I’ve decided to make a couple of changes to my line up this weekend.
“This is an important game for us, we need to pick up some points. I’m disappointed in recent weeks because we’ve played so well against some top teams and got nothing.”
