Bournemouth welcome Crystal Palace to the Vitaly Stadium in the first-ever Premier League game to be screened live on BBC.
Depending on how their relegation rivals fare elsewhere, Bournemouth could enter this match knowing that a win could potentially move them out of the relegation zone at expense of Watford or West Ham.
Crystal Palace meanwhile could climb as high as eighth depending on results elsewhere and them taking victory here.
Team News
Embed from Getty ImagesPhilip Billing is a doubt for Bournemouth after suffering an ankle injury during the Cherries’ mini pre-season.
Charlie Daniels meanwhile remains out with a knee injury but Chris Mepham (knee), David Brooks (ankle) and Arnaut Danjuma (foot) are available after making recoveries during lockdown.
Crystal Palace will be without three defenders for this match as James Tompkins (thigh) and Martin Kelly (calf) both miss out, alongside left-back – Jeffrey Schlupp (knock).
Stat Attack
- Bournemouth have won just one of their last seven Premier League meetings against Crystal Palace (W1, D3, L3).
- Palace have conceded first in just one of their last three trips to the Vitaly Stadium.
- Both teams have scored in four of their last five meetings.
- No Premier League goalkeeper has won more aerial battles this season than Palace’s Vicente Guaita, who has won 16 aerial battles in 27 appearances.
- Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson has been caught offside 24 times this season, only bettered by Burnley’s Chris Wood who has been offside on 31 occasions.
Prediction
Crystal Palace seems to be bit of a bogey team for Bournemouth but this is a fixture which has seen plenty of goals in recent meetings, so I am expecting to see a great battle live on BBC One.
Both teams also have many key players back from injury which will add extra intrigue after three months off, as Bournemouth look to avoid relegation whilst Palace looks to reignite their Europe bid.
Goals therefore will surely be a certainty here irrespective of the fact that it is behind closed doors, but I am going for a home win because this is surely Bournemouth’s best chance to spark their run-in into life with top talent like David Brooks back from injury.
Prediction: Bournemouth 3-2 Crystal Palace
Result: Bournemouth 0-2 Crystal Palace