Crystal Palace host Watford at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night and they will want to banish the memories of their painful end to the Bournemouth game on Saturday.
The Eagles dropped two valuable points as Christian Benteke’s tame penalty was comfortably saved in injury time. Benteke will be relieved that the next game has come so quickly as he will be looking to correct his error against Watford.
The striker has gone twelve games without a goal and he will want to please the Palace fans very quickly as they are increasingly becoming inpatient with the Belgian.
Watford are on the slide at the moment having lost twice and drawn once in their last three games. Their run at Selhurst Park doesn’t look too glamourous either losing twice and winning once since their play-off meeting back in May 2013. Watford will want to re-spark their amazing form that has lead to them being in ninth place in the Premier League.
Team News
Losing Mamadou Sakho against Bournemouth will be a massive blow for the Eagles. He is expected to be out for the next few weeks. Connor Wickham and Lee Chung-yong are out with knee injuries. Damien Delaney also joins them on the sidelines. Joel Ward is out with a groin injury but Timothy Fosu-Mensah expected to start. Yohan Cabaye is a doubt after picking up a knock on his leg during the draw with Bournemouth.
Marco Silva has many problems with his squad. Marvin Zeegelaar picked a red card against Burnley and starts his suspension on Tuesday night. Watford have a long list of long-term absentees: Nathaniel Chalobah, Younes Kaboul, Stefano Okaka, Craig Cathcart, and Tommie Hoban will not be available for the Hornets. Will Hughes and Isaac Success should be back soon but the Palace game is too soon for their returns. Kiko Femenia and Miguel Britos are hoping to be recalled for the game.
Prediction
The Eagles are back at the bottom of the Premier League and they will see the game against Bournemouth as a chance missed to climb out of the relegation zone.
The good news for Palace is that they are starting to score goals at home. It is now five homes games in a row that Roy Hodgson’s side have scored twice. This is something that Watford will have to look out for as Palace have a very deadly counter-attack with Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha bringing pace when they go forward. The defence for the Eagles is a major concern having only kept two clean sheets all season.
It has been a few weeks since Watford won 3-0 against Newcastle. Their European hopes are starting to fade with their poor recent form and they are starting to leak a few goals at the back themselves.
With both sides having poor defences at the moment, I can see a game full of action and excitement and I expect a high-scoring game.
Crystal Palace 3-2 Watford
