Crystal Palace welcome Norwich City to Selhurst Park in a festive Bank Holiday Tuesday Premier League clash.
Victory would see Palace climb as high as ninth until at least Tuesday evening at minimum, whereas Norwich can climb to 18th with a win if Newcastle fail to beat Manchester United on Monday evening.
Team News
Wilfried Zaha is suspended for Crystal Palace after being sent off in the Eagles’ Boxing Day loss at Tottenham.
James McArthur (hamstring), Eberechi Eze, Luka Milivojevic and Christian Benteke (all Coronavirus) are ruled out but Vicente Guaita, Nathaniel Clyne and Michael Olise all are doubtful after missing Sunday’s defeat for unspecified reasons.
Tim Krul is ruled out for Norwich after missing their Boxing Day defeat to Arsenal following a positive Coronavirus test.
Grant Hanley (shoulder), Andrew Omobamidele (back), Christoph Zimmerman (ankle), Milot Rashica (groin), Lukas Rupp (Coronavirus) and Mathias Normann (pelvis) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Palace have lost just one of their last six matches against Norwich (W3, D2, L1).
- Norwich have won two of six Premier League visits to Selhurst Park (W2, D2, L2).
- Palace have kept clean sheets in their last two home matches against Norwich in April 2016 and September 2019 respectively.
- No Norwich player has conceded more penalties this season than Ozan Kabak who has conceded two penalties.
- Zaha is the first Palace player this season to be red carded in a league match.
Prediction
Palace shouldn’t be too disheartened by their Boxing Day defeat at Spurs because they did make a bright start, until the hosts found their stride with impressive pace which caused major defensive issues for Palace’s defence with poor marking especially on the flanks against Lucas Moura.
Norwich meanwhile were just a defensive disaster against Arsenal from start to finish complete with awful marking and space closures, on top of sloppy midfield play as Arsenal outplayed them across the pitch so a huge reaction is required here.
A strong start consequently will be crucial here for both teams but I can see just one result coming if Palace can assert themselves on the front foot, especially given their better confidence and quality at home which could be the difference against a weak Norwich team.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-0 Norwich
Result: Crystal Palace 3-0 Norwich
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