Crystal Palace vs. Leicester City
Venue: Selhurst Park
Kick off:4pm
Leicester City will attempt to consolidate first position in the Premier League table when they travel to dangerously out-of-form Crystal Palace today.
The Foxes will enter the clash five points clear of second-place Tottenham Hotspur, while a 12-game winless run in the league has seen Palace drop into 15th position.
As the end of 2016 approached, Palace were mentioned as possible challenges for a top-four place this season. An excellent first half of the campaign rightly led to widespread praise, but their form has tailed off to such an extent that they are actually now just two places outside of the bottom three.
Indeed, Palace have not collected all the points in a league match since December 19, when they won at Stoke. They have failed to win in 12 league fixtures since then and collected just four points in the process. What’s more, the Eagles have lost each of their last five Premier League fixtures on home soil.
Still Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri and the players themselves deny talk of winning the league, but there has to come a point where the Foxes must believe that they can win what would be the most incredible title victory in the Premier League era.
Monday’s 1-0 win over Newcastle United ensured that Leicester would remain five points clear of second-place Spurs entering this weekend’s fixtures and they are also 11 points clear of third-place Arsenal, who face a very difficult trip to Everton in Saturday’s early start. Ranieri’s side had a little wobble when they lost at Arsenal and drew with West Bromwich Albion, but have won their last two in the league without conceding.
Indeed, 18 wins have arrived from Leicester’s 30 league fixtures this season. They have scored 53 times, which is the best offensive record in the division and have only been beaten on three occasions. To put that number into context, Arsenal have suffered seven league defeats this term and Manchester City eight.
In fact, Leicester have lost just five of their last 41 Premier League fixtures and they have the best away record in the division this term – collecting 31 points on their travels. They were supposed to fall away at this stage, but have come through a tough period and can look ahead to some favourable matches.
They will face Sunderland and Swansea City in two of their next four league games, but their final three, on paper, are very tricky. On May 1, they will travel to Manchester United, before facing Everton and then visiting Chelsea on the final weekend of the campaign. They might well already have the title sewn up by then, however, and former Foxes striker Gary Lineker will have to get his underpants ready for Match of the Day next season.
Talk of the title might be banned, but Leicester are currently 14 points clear of fifth-place West Ham United and even a collapse at this stage would surely not be enough to force them out of a Champions League finish.
Palace possible starting lineup:
Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Zaha, Cabaye, Ledley, Puncheon; Adebayor, Bolasie
Leicester possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Albrighton, Drinkwater, Kante, Mahrez; Vardy, Okazaki