Crystal Palace are set to clash with Leicester City at Selhurst Park on Saturday evening. The tie comes at a crucial time for both sides, who are looking to improve upon their league standings.
Palace are well above the relegation scraps after the 4 points they collected from the previous two fixtures but are still within the danger zone of facing the drop.
Roy Hodgson has had to weave through a plethora of problems to keep the side out of the bottom three and so far has succeeded. The Eagles look charged up after moving up the points ladder, rather than festering right on the edges of the relegation scraps.
They are currently placed at the 14th spot of the table and could move 5 more places up with a win tonight.
Leicester are not in the most prolific of forms either having collected just a points out of their last 3 league games. Puel’s side are looking to bounce back to winning ways but will be met by heavy resistance from the home side.
The last time these two sides met was back in December when Palace triumphed by 3 goals to nil at the King Power Stadium. The absolutely demolished the Foxes and registered their first win away from home since April 2017.
The present scenario might call up a similar story but is unlikely to occur. Puel has almost a completely fit squad and is looking to finish the season far better than the 12 placed finish from last season.
Here is how Crystal Palace might lineup on game day.
Predicted Formation: 4-4-2
Defence
Wayne Hennessey is the current number one ahead of Julian Speroni after finding a bit of consistency in between the sticks.
The 31-year-old might get shielded by the defensive quartet of Joel Ward, James Tomkins, Martin Kelly and Patrick van Aanholt. Mamadou Sakho has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Scott Dann is still troubled by knee problems.
Jeffrey Schlupp’s return is anticipated but only from as a substitute.
Midfield
Luka Milivojevic and Yohan Cabaye might appear in the holding midfield role.
The flanks are to be covered by Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend.
Connor Wickham and Jason Puncheon will not be returning for team selection any time soon.
Attack
Alexander Sorloth and Christian Benteke are to mark their returns to the starting lineup. Both were dropped for deserved reasons but will be looking to get back on the scoring sheet.
