Crystal Palace face Everton in a lower-half Premier League battle at Selhurst Park.
If Brentford lose at West Ham, victory will see Palace climb to 11th in the table, whilst Everton could move up to 13th with a win.
Team News
Palace could welcome Eddie Nketiah back after he missed their FA Cup win at Doncaster with an ankle injury.
Eberechi Eze (foot) and Ismaila Sarr (illness) could too be available but Cheick Doucoure, Chadi Riad (both knee) and Joel Ward (calf) remain sidelined.
Everton will be without Abdoulaye Doucoure after he was red carded in a fiery Merseyside Derby comeback draw against Liverpool in midweek.
Iliman Ndiaye is ruled out with a medial knee ligament injury which he suffered in the first half of that match, whilst Nathan Patterson missed the game with a hamstring injury and will again be absent in South London.
Armando Broja (leg), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (hamstring), Youssef Chermiti (thigh), Seamus Coleman (calf), Dwight McNeil (knee) and Orel Mangala (ACL) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace host Everton at Selhurst Park on Saturday 15 February at 5:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Palace are winless in their last six league meetings against Everton (D2, L4).
- Everton have lost one of their last seven league trips to Palace (W2, D4, L1).
- Palace are yet to have a player sent off against Everton after 31 previous Premier League meetings.
- Four of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 10 league goals for Palace this season have been scored at home.
- Everton are winless in three previous visits to London-based opposition this season without scoring (D2, L1).
Prediction
Currently in solid form and having executed a clinical but crucially well controlled FA Cup win at Doncaster amidst various changes, Palace can come into this game full of confidence and Nketiah plus Eze’s return will only add more quality to their attacking play.
Everton meanwhile were brilliant in their counter-attacking play against Liverpool with gutsy fighting spirit to snatch a deserved draw after conceding two sloppy goals, but this should be a more open attacking game which could pose an issue especially without Doucoure plus Ndiaye.
Nevertheless I can see a tough competitive battle between these teams as has often been the case in recent meetings but if Palace can play as well as they did at Doncaster, I can see them taking a slender win.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-0 Everton
Result: Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton
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