Crystal Palace welcome Leicester City to Selhurst Park in a must-win clash in the fight for Premier League survival.
Victory would see Palace stay 12th in the table, whilst Leicester can leapfrog their hosts with a win and go 12th if results swing in their favour.
Team News
Joachim Andersen could return for Crystal Palace after he suffered a calf injury in warm-up during Palace’s defeat at Arsenal.
Midfielder, Albert Sambi Lokonga is set to return after he was ineligible to feature last time out, due to the terms of his loan move from Arsenal.
Vicente Guaita (hamstring), Sam Johnstone (calf) and James McArthur (both illness) are doubts and could all face late fitness tests.
Chris Richards (unspecified) and and Nathan Ferguson (fitness) are both ruled out.
Leicester will welcome defender, Wout Faes back into contention after he was suspended for their 1-1 draw at Brentford.
Harry Souttar (ankle), Jonny Evans (hamstring), Victor Kristiansen (ankle), Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Dennis Praet (leg) are doubts, although they will all face late fitness tests.
Jannik Vestergaard (personal), Youri Tielemans (ankle) and James Justin (Achilles) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace face Leicester at Selhurst Park in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday 1 April, albeit untelevised live in UK.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace are winless in their last seven meetings against Leicester (D3, L4).
- Leicester are unbeaten in four of their last six visits to Palace (W1, D3, L2).
- There has never been two consecutive 0-0 draws between Palace and Leicester in all competitions.
- Palace have conceded seven goals in four of their six league matches at home in 2023 (D4, L2).
- Leicester have claimed just four points from five away games against London-based opposition this season (W1, D1, L3).
Prediction
With no wins and just five points amassed in 2023, Palace now need to start putting wins together if want to avoid a complete freefall especially now Roy Hodgson is back in charge until end of season.
I will admit that Hodgson doesn’t have the best template to work from off the back of Palace’s mauling at Arsenal, so I do expect to see Palace return to basics here and focus on tightening up their defensive positioning but their attack just lacked end product which will improve with confidence.
Leicester meanwhile did well to snatch a deserved draw at Brentford through one magical moment despite frustratingly lacking much end product, amidst excellent attacking quality and defending so there are positives which can be built upon here.
Both teams though are in a scrap to stay up and with a lot of work to do but a draw does seem the best bet at Selhurst Park, if the Eagles can quickly rediscover their spark whilst Leicester will be relieved to get something given their away form in London this season.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester
Result: Crystal Palace 2-1 Leicester
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