CRYSTAL PALACE v LIVERPOOL, Sunday January 23, 2pm
Nobody thought January, traditionally our bogey month, would be any easier this year without Salah and Mane (and Keita – thanks for the reminder, boss), but we’ve managed to cruise through so far, putting Brentford to the sword and dominating a resurgent Arsenal at their place. Jota and Jones have both looked lethal excellent but for me, the star has been a defence that’s largely looked impenetrable, a great flashback to the first half of our last title winning season. But when has this fixture ever been a low-scoring affair? Two of my earliest football memories involve the 9-0 thrashing when Aldo bid adieu by throwing his boots into the Kop, and the 4-3 FA Cup semi-final when we narrowly missed out on a double for the third consecutive year.
After four years, Roy Hodgson left Palace in the summer, to be replaced by Patrick Vieira. We got the Vieira era off to a great start in September
with a 3-0 win punctuated by an excellent Keita volley. The less said about Jota blazing the ball over from three yards out the better. They’re still a mid-table team, but one that’s far more entertaining to watch, with young talents like Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi, Michael Olise, Tyrick Mitchell and Odsonne Édouard having staked places in the first team.
Chelsea loanee Gallagher is their danger man, a strong box-to-box midfielder who’s drawn comparisons to Frank Lampard due to his goalscoring record, but Palace aren’t any better defensively than they have been in recent years, also conceding three to Chelsea, Spurs, Burnley and, on New Year’s Day, West Ham. They did inflict one of Man City’s two league defeats this season so they have it in them to pull off a shock, but the fact their sole wins over the last two months have come against relegation candidates Norwich and Everton mean we should be expecting a win.
So how will the teams line up?
For us, it’s likely to be a largely unchanged team, particularly since we’re about to head into yet another international break and we don’t have another match for a fortnight afterwards. None of Thiago, Origi or Elliott are back to full fitness and Oxlade-Chamberlain remains a doubt due to the ankle injury he picked up against Brentford. Curtis
Williams Jones has been very impressive in midfield and will surely keep his place while Minamino looks a good bet to come back into the team following a couple of cameo appearances where he’s looked dangerous.
Palace meanwhile are without holding midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté, who’s playing alongside Mane at AFCON, and Wilfred Zaha, who’s representing the Ivory Coast. They do however have Eberechi Eze back from a torn achilles, and he’ll probably start in a front three. This is how they lined up against Brighton last week:
Essentially, Palace’s team is young, fast and hungry with an extra few days rest, but they’re also raw and relatively inexperienced. Let’s see this one out and move on.
