Crystal Palace host Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park on the final day of 2022-23 Premier League season.
Victory would see Palace finish 11th in the table, whilst Forest can finish 15th with a win if Bournemouth lose elsewhere.
Team News
Jeffrey Schlupp is unlikely to return for Palace after he missed their draw at Fulham for personal reasons, having previously been sidelined with a knock.
Vicente Guaita (knock) is a doubt but Luka Milivojevic, Nathan Ferguson (both muscle) James Tomkins (calf) and Wilfried Zaha (hamstring) remain ruled out.
Forest will be without goalkeeper – Keylor Navas after he suffered a groin injury in their win against Arsenal last weekend.
Gustavo Scarpa (knee) could return but Danilo, Felipe (both knock) and Jesse Lingard (Achilles) are doubts.
Dean Henderson (muscle), Neco Williams (jaw), Scott McKenna (collarbone), Omar Richards (leg), Giulian Biancone (knee), Jack Colback (concussion), Jonjo Shelvey (knock), and Chris Wood (thigh) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace host Forest in a 4:30pm BST kick-off at Selhurst Park on Sunday 28 May, albeit untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace have failed to beat Forest in five previous Premier League meetings (D2, L3).
- Forest are unbeaten in two previous visits to Crystal Palace (W1, D1).
- Palace missed their only penalty against Forest in five previous Premier League meetings, whilst Forest are yet to win a spot-kick against Palace in the modern top-flight.
- Palace are unbeaten in eight of their last nine home matches (W3, D5, L1).
- Forest have scored in five of their last six away matches (D1, L5), except for a 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa in April 2023.
Prediction
Despite the top-ten being beyond their reach, this match is far from a dead rubber given that they can actually finish as London’s fifth-best team above Chelsea, which does feel unbelievable yet a target which is totally achievable.
Roy Hodgson’s Palace though must avoid sloppy defending which cost them a possible win at Fulham, where they were otherwise excellent with impressive pace and movement on the counter-attacks but I do expect them to do more attacking here.
Forest meanwhile have been poor all season on the road with just one away win but there is little doubt that they are a solid attacking unit, which have been let down defensively but fair credit to their defence for a resilient display to beat Arsenal last weekend with a clean sheet.
I however do hope that performance can spark Forest into life more and they can pick up an away win to give them more positivity going into next season, although Selhurst Park’s home atmosphere will be harder to handle than in previous Premier League visits.
Either way, the pressure is largely off for both teams but a part of me does hope that the idea of finishing above Chelsea will motivate Palace to go for the win, otherwise this could be a tight but quiet season-closing match.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Result: Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest