Sixth-placed Crystal Palace host 12th-placed Southampton at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with both sides looking to improve on disappointing games last time out.
Palace were lucky to escape their last game again Everton with a 1-1 draw after being completely outplayed for most of the match. The main issue was their play going forward which was lacking direction with many passes missing targets, resulting in the ball being turned over cheaply. This is something that they will need to rectify heading into this week’s match.
Southampton had to come from behind last time out against Aston Villa and were only able to get a draw against a side who has really struggled all season. The supporters will be looking for a much-improved performance from Graziano Pelle in particular as he was largely missing during the match and another poor game from him could spell trouble for the Saints.
Key Battle – Yannick Bolasie vs Sadio Mane
Both sides like to use the pace these player possess to get their respective teams moving in the right direction. Mane was one of the better players for Southampton going forward mainly because he was able to try and find space in behind to get his team on the front foot after they fell behind early in the match.
In the case of Palace they can often be a bit predictable in who they look to going forward and because of this Bolasie has become a barometer of how the team are performing. When he is able to run at the defence and create space for himself this is a good sign for Palace as they will be able to use their counter-attacking strengths. However if the defence is tight and he is unable to break away it prevents Palace from getting forward quickly and from that position they can struggle to find any drive forward.
It will be up to Mane to not only show some speed going forward but also get back and assist his defence when Palace look to attack so as to try and nullify Bolasie’s impact.
Team News
Palace made some changes last week when Alan Pardew replace Wilfried Zaha with Mile Jedinak to try and give Palace some extra stability in defence against an attacking Everton side, however, given that move had little impact on the flow of the game Zaha will probably make a return to give Palace more speed moving forward.
Southampton have injury concerns moving into this week’s match with Wanyama doubtful after picking up an injury in the previous match which could potentially see Oriol Romeu take his place after a good performance of the bench last week.
Head to Head
In the previous 42 encounters between the two teams Southampton have won 19 while the Eagles have won 13 with 10 draws. Palace can take confidence in the fact that they have a 10-6 winning record at Selhurst Park.
Previous Meeting
In the last match between the two sides the Saints secured a 1-0 victory at St Mary’s thanks to a Sadio Mane goal in the 83rd minute.
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Prediction
Given that both sides will be looking to bounce back from disappointing performances last time out this game has the potential to be quite entertaining. Both sides will come out with attacking intent and looking to score so this could quite a high scoring match.
Crystal Palace 3 Southampton 2
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