Crystal Palace have had a tough run of fixtures, having faced Manchester City, Arsenal, Leicester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in their last five games, losing four of them. Palace have a slightly easier fixture this weekend against Burnley but The Clarets have won their last two games and are in 7th in the league.
Palace are in 13th with 15 points, 3 points behind Burnley in the league table. The last time these two sides met at Turf Moor, Palace won the game 3-1, back in March.
Let’s take a look at the possible Crystal Palace team Roy Hodgson could put out against Burnley.
Team News
Hodgson has confirmed that defender Joel Ward will miss ‘several weeks’ due to a knee injury.
Mamadou Sakho is fit and has been playing for the reserve side but his match fitness is not up to mark having not played since September and is unlikely to be picked just yet.
Other than that, Hodgson has a full squad to choose from.
PREDICTED CRYSTAL PALACE TEAM VS BURNLEY (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper
Vicente Guaita has played 11 of the 13 Premier League games this season and he should start in goal once again.
Defender
Mamadou Sakho could perhaps make it to the Palace bench, but it’s unlikely that he will start in defence for the game against Burnley.
James Tomkins and Gary Cahill should retain their places in defence in the Crystal Palace team for Saturday’s game.
The injury to Joel Ward means that Martin Kelly will replace him at right-back for the Eagles. Patrick van Aanholt will start at left-back and hope to add to his two-goal tally.
Midfield
The midfield trio of Cheikhou Kouyaté, James McArthur and captain Luka Milivojevic are a hard-working, strong and tough-tackling trio.
They should retain their places in the middle of the park for Palace against a strong Burnley midfield.
James McCarthy, Max Meyer and Víctor Camarasa are other options for the former England manager in the centre of the pitch.
Attack
Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha could start as the wingers for Palace, with the former playing on the right and the latter on the left in the Crystal Palace team. Zaha scored against Liverpool last time around and is their most important player going forward.
Jordan Ayew, Palace’s top scorer of the season with four goals, should retain his spot in the team.
