Crystal Palace meet Luton Town at Selhurst Park in a huge clash in the race for Premier League survival.
Victory could see Palace climb to 13th if Bournemouth lose elsewhere, whilst victory would move 18th-placed Luton to within one point of safety – with Nottingham Forest not in action until Sunday afternoon at Brighton.
Team News
Jordan Ayew is a doubt for Palace with a hip injury which he suffered in their defeat at Tottenham.
Jeffrey Schlupp (quad) and Matheus Franca (adductor) however are both ruled out until after the international break.
Michael Olise, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (both hamstring), Marc Guehi (knee), Rob Holding (ankle) and Cheick Docoure (Achilles) remain absent.
Luton could welcome Gabriel Osho back into contention following his return to training after recovering from a muscle injury.
Amari’i Bell however is ruled out after he suffered a hamstring injury in their defeat to Villa last weekend.
Dan Potts, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Elijah Adebayo (both hamstring), Joseph Johnson (illness), Mads Andersen (calf), Marvelous Nakamba, Jacob Brown (both knee) and Tom Lockyer (illness) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace host Luton at Selhurst Park at 3pm GMT on Saturday 9 March, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace lost their only previous Premier League meeting against Luton by a 2-1 result in November 2023.
- Luton are playing away to Palace in the Premier League for the first time, but have won one of their last four league visits outside of the top-flight (W1, L3).
- Both teams have scored in five of their last six clashes at Selhurst Park across all competitions.
- Palace have scored first in each of their last four league matches (W1, D1, L2).
- Carlton Morris has scored in four of his last five appearances for Luton (D1, L3).
Prediction
Despite managing to take the fight to Tottenham amidst wasteful open play attacking, Palace were pretty much outclassed defensively late on but this is a chance for them to continue building after their strong opening game under Oliver Glasner a fortnight ago against much easier opposition than they faced in North London.
Luton meanwhile need to cut out their recent defensive sloppiness which has been their downfall in recent games because they otherwise could be closer towards the safety zone than their current four-point gap, but they really should believe that they can trouble an injury-hit Palace if play as well as they’ve done lately.
Both teams though do have defensive issues to sort out so I do expect this game to be pretty tight but Palace at home really should have the edge, yet I can see the Hatters nicking a draw.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Luton
Result: Crystal Palace 1-1 Luton
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