Roy Hodgson’s face Stoke City at Selhurst Park on Saturday, boasting an impressive recent run of form against the Potters.
Crystal Palace have won six of their previous eight games against Stoke City. Their 1-0 defeat at the Bet365 Stadium in February was Stoke City’s first win against Palace in eight attempts. Palace will be hoping that their recent record against Stoke City will help them secure their second win of the season.
Stoke have a poor record at Selhurst Park, having not won there in the entirety of Crystal Palace’s five-season spell in the Premier League. Stoke will have to be at their best if they are to turn that troubling statistic around.
Last gameweek saw Crystal Palace play a thrilling score-draw against their Merseyside opponents Everton. The game ended 2-2 and Crystal Palace could’ve collected all three points if it wasn’t for a controversial penalty given by Anthony Taylor against them earlier on in the game. Stoke City also played out a 2-2 draw against Palace’s bitter rivals Brighton on Monday Night Football, having gone ahead twice.
Team News
Crystal Palace have lost Jordan Mutch to a knock and they don’t face any fresh injury concerns. Roy Hodgson will be buoyed to have seen Christian Benteke play fifteen minutes on Saturday as he looks to return to full fitness.
Geoff Cameron will be hoping to return to Stoke this weekend after suffering a concussion in training, having missed the previous three games for the Potters. Jack Butland and Stephen Ireland remain out for this week.
Prediction
Despite Palace scoring twice at home in their previous three matches, they remain rock-bottom of the Premier League table. There is a troubling statistic for the Eagles, as only once in Premier League history has a team (Everton) stayed up at this stage in the season with five points.
While the South Londoners can’t get off the foot of the table, there is every reason to be positive. Wilfried Zaha has been superb since his return and Benteke could be fit enough to start on Saturday.
Stoke have been poor recently, having won twice in their last ten games. Stoke remain a difficult team to beat, especially from set-pieces. This game will be very tight and I think Palace will just about edge this one with a 2-1 win.
