Crystal Palace will be looking to take a big step towards survival when they will be taking on Watford this weekend. The Eagles are currently 16th, five points clear of the relegation zone. Southampton could have taken big steps towards survival this week as they were leading Chelsea 2-0 at the St. Mary’s but an inspired comeback from the Blues saw them seal the win with a 3-2 scoreline. They were in action once again in a mid-week clash against Leicester City but the game ended in a goalless draw. These results have certainly boosted Crystal Palace’s chances of survival.
Palace started off their season badly under the highly rated former Ajax Manager as they failed to score in their first seven games. De Boer was replaced by Hodgson and the former England manager has done well to keep Palace out of relegation zone for now.
Palace will be travelling to Vicarage Road to take on Watford who have lost 4 of their last five games. Watford are currently on 37 points and even after these run of bad results they are expected to be safe One often sees that when safety is guaranteed the teams take the pedal off the gas as they don’t have much to play for and that seems to be the case with Javi Garcia’s men as they have failed to turn up in their last few encounters. Crystal Palace will be hoping much of the same as they look to ensure their top-flight status.
Hodgson has some injury concerns as Jeffrey Schlupp is out due to injury. Along with him, Scott Dann, Jason Puncheon, Bakary Sako and Connor Wickham are already out until the end of the season due to various injuries.
This is how they will most likely lineup at Vicarage Road (4-4-1-1)
Defence
Wayne Hennessey has been the first choice goalkeeper and Hodgson is expected to stick with him. He will have a back four of James Tomkins, Mamadou Sakho, Van Aanholt and Joel Ward to protect him.
Midfield
Luka Milivojevic and Yohan Cabaye will start in the middle of the pitch for the Eagles. Milivojevic has been in good form recently and will be expected to keep things ticking in the middle of the park. Chelsea loanee, Ruben Loftus Cheek will play down the left-hand side and Andros Townsend will provide width to the team from the right side.
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Attack
Wilfried Zaha has started up front for Hodgson lately, but Benteke will be expected to lead the line in this game after coming back from injury and the Ivorian will play in the No.10 role behind him.
