Crystal Palace vs. Burnley
Venue: Selhurst Park
Kick off: 4PM
Both Crystal Palace and Burnley will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they lock horns at Selhurst Park this afternoon.
Palace, who lost 2-0 at Leeds United on Monday night, occupy 13th position in the table, while Burnley currently sit 17th but are eight points above the relegation zone heading into the next set of fixtures.
Palace have won eight, drawn five and lost 10 of their 23 Premier League matches this season to sit 13th in the table, 14 points above the relegation zone and eight points off the top seven.
It is very difficult to imagine the Eagles being pulled into any sort of relegation battle in the latter stages of the campaign, but they have not shown enough consistency to push into the top half of the division, and it would not therefore be a surprise to see them finish in and around the position that they currently occupy.
Roy Hodgson’s side had been on a difficult run before recording back-to-back wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United, but as mentioned, the capital club will enter today’s contest off the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Leeds at Elland Road.
Palace only have Premier League football to worry about between now and the end of the season, and they only actually have three more games before the end of the month, taking on Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham in their two matches after this one before starting March with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Eagles have won four of their last six Premier League games with Burnley but have lost the last two, including a 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Turf Moor back in November.
Burnley, meanwhile, will enter Saturday’s contest off the back of a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup; Sam Surridge and Junior Stanislas scored the goals for the Championship outfit as they marched into the quarter-finals of the competition.
Like Palace, the Clarets now only have Premier League matches between now and the end of the season, and they will be looking to return to winning ways today, having only picked up one point from their last three fixtures in England’s top flight.
Sean Dyche’s side collected six points from two games against Liverpool and Aston Villa towards the end of January but then suffered back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Manchester City before playing out a 1-1 draw with Brighton in the league last weekend.
Burnley have actually dropped into 17th position in the table due to their recent run, but the gap to 18th-placed Fulham is eight points on the same number of matches, showing that the current bottom three are being cut adrift at a key stage of the season.
Crystal Palace possible XI: Guaita, Clyne, Kouyate, Cahill, Mitchell, Townsend, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Eze, Mateta, Ayew.
Burnley possible XI: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Barnes, Rodriguez.