Crystal Palace return focus to the Premier League with a home clash against Nottingham Forest.
Victory will lift Palace into the top ten, whilst Forest can move into the top four with a win.
Team News
Palace have no fresh injury concerns to report after their UEFA Conference League’s first-leg victory over Fredrikstad in their play-off tie.
Caleb Kporha (back), Chadi Riad (ACL), Daichi Kamada, Cheick Doucoure (both knee), Eddie Nketiah (hamstring) and Matheus Franca (unspecified) also miss out.
Forest manager, Nuno Espirito Santo could hand debuts to Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Douglas Luiz following their arrivals this week.
Nicolas Dominguez (knee) remains absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace face Forest at Selhurst Park on Sunday 24 August at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Palace are winless in their last nine league meetings against Forest since a 1-0 away win in December 2011 in the Championship (D6, L3).
- Forest are unbeaten in their last eight league visits to Palace (W3, D5).
- Four of Palace’s five home games against Forest in the Premier League have ended in draws (D4, L1), with three of those four draws ending in a 1-1 result.
- Palace have kept just two clean sheets in their last six home matches in the Premier League (W4. D2).
- Forest lost just two of seven league visits to London-based opposition last season (W3, D2, L2).
Prediction
Despite their dominance against Fredrikstad, Palace certainly missed the energetic trickery of Eberechi Eze which has to be of concern in games where small moments of magic is the difference, yet Jean-Philippe Mateta’s positioning was the difference but I expect some rotation here.
Forest meanwhile could of easily conformed to their awful pre-season form in their opener against Brentford yet they in reality were devastatingly good on the counter-attack and from set-pieces, which will only motivate them further given their away form in London.
This fixture though has been quite closely-fought in recent years but if Forest bring the same intensity that they did against Brentford, I can see them nicking this.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 Nottingham Forest
Result: Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest
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