Project restart has been near identical for both Crystal Palace and Burnley. Both have suffered demoralising defeats to the top two Premier League side, while also enjoying wins over relegation-threatened sides. Europe is still a realistic chance for either side, but having cemented their places in the top-flight, it is a clash of two mid-table sides at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace Meet Burnley at Selhurst Park
Head to Head
The hosts will be looking to make it five wins in a row against Burnley, have claimed the spoils in the last four games.
The two sides last met in November last year, where Palace took all three points with a 2-0 win at Turf Moor. Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring on the brink of half-time after his shot crept underneath Nick Pope in the Clarets goal.
Palace then made it 2-0 in almost identical fashion with 13 minutes remaining. A failed clearance by Ben Mee fell to the feet of Jeffrey Schlupp, whose powerful effort from 12 yards out could not be stopped by Pope.
Burnley last defeated Palace in 2017, where an early goal from Chris Wood earned the three points for the Clarets, and ended Frank de Boer’s short tenure at Selhurst Park.
Team News
Roy Hodgson was lost two key players in the buildup to their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. Both Vicente Guaita and Christian Benteke missed the loss after suffering muscle strains.
Their defeat to the newly-crowned Premier League champions was made worse midway through the first half, after Wilfried Zaha was substituted through injury.
However, Hodgson is hopeful at least one of them will be fit. Speaking about Zaha, the 72-year-old said: “We don’t know that yet – we’ve still got two days and he was having treatment this morning.
“He didn’t take part in training of course. We are still hopeful that these next couple of days will see him recover from the minor injury he picked up in the warm-up and we are leaving the door open because we’d really like him to play.”
The Palace manager confirmed that James Tomkins, Jeffrey Schlupp and Martin Kelly are still unavailable.
Jay Rodriguez is a doubt for the visitors. The striker was substituted through injury midway through the second half in their 1-0 win over Watford.
Late European Push for Either Side?
Despite being a distant hope rather than reality, a late for push for the European places is still on for both sides.
Eighth place could be enough to seal qualification for next season’s Europa League, and a win for either club would lift them into eighth, level on points with Tottenham.
As a result, a win could spur a late push for Europe for either Palace or Burnley.
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