Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last three Premier League games and has managed to secure a point in a tough away to Brighton in midweek. Roy Hodgson has given the Eagles a chance to survive the drop but it won’t come easy. They will travel to the West Midlands to take on West Bromwich Albion on Saturday in what promises to be a ‘relegation six-pointer’. The Eagles have an opportunity to move two places up to 18th in the league standings if they can pick up a victory at the Hawthorns. They did the double over West Brom last season and will look to do the same again this time around.
Roy Hodgson is expected to name an unchanged side and opt for a traditional 4-4-2 formation against the Baggies. Jeffrey Schlupp, Scott Dann, Luka Milivojevic and Yohan Cabaye did not train on Thursday due to knocks but the Eagles’ boss would be hoping that the quartet can pass the late fitness tests ahead of the game on Saturday. Lee Chung-Yong and Conor Wickham remain long-term casualties for Palace and won’t make it to the game.
4-4-2 Crystal Palace Predicted Line-Up To Face West Bromwich Albion
Defence
Wayne Hennessey will retain his place in goal for Crystal Palace after keeping a brilliant clean sheet away at Brighton. The Welsh goalkeeper is likely to be shielded by a back four of Joel Ward at right-back, Scott Dann and Mamadou Sakho in central defence and Jeffrey Schlupp at left-back. The duo of Dann and Schlupp will both be in for late fitness tests. Patrick van Aanholt and Timothy Fosu-Mensah will be on standby if either of them drops out of the squad.
Midfield
Luka Milivojevic and Yohan Cabaye will start the match at the centre of the park if the duo can shake off their knocks and recover on time before the match. James McArthur and Jason Puncheon will take their place in central midfield if they don’t make the starting line-up. It is expected that Ruben Loftus-Cheek will resume his duties on the right side of the Palace midfield while Andros Townsend will do the same on the left flank.
Attack
Christian Benteke played the full 90 minutes in the scoreless draw against Brighton and the Palace boss has claimed that he will be fit to do the same again. The Belgian striker will be partnered by Wilfried Zaha up front and both forwards will look to get their names on the scoresheet this weekend.
