Crystal Palace V Swansea
Date: 26/08/17
K.O: 15:00pm
Crystal Palace will welcome Swansea City to Selhurst Park this Saturday, with both sides coming into the fixture on the back of losses, and both yet to record a goal in this years Premier League.
Last season, there were 12 goals across the two Premier League meetings between these two sides, with nine of those coming in a topsy-turvy encounter at the Liberty Stadium where Swansea eventually ran out 5-4 winners.
Frank De Boer’s side are yet to register a single point this year after defeats to Huddersfield Town and Liverpool, though last weeks 1-0 loss did show signs of improvement from the Eagles. The Swans are in a similar position with only one point in their first two league fixtures, and are coming into the game on the back of a 4-0 defeat and late capitulation against Manchester United.
Frank de Boer will not take risks with Wilfried Zaha as the winger begins rehabilitation on his injured knee. The Ivory Coast international suffered the problem in Palace’s opening-day defeat to Huddersfield and has missed the last two matches, including the midweek Carabao Cup success over Ipswich.
Summer signing Jairo Riedewald could play after missing out with an injury against Liverpool, while Christian Benteke should return to the starting XI. Having Benteke back is a huge boost for the Eagles, as the Belgian can hopefully bolster their lacklustre attack.
Though the Swans also come into this game with a faltering attack, and a seeming loss of identity without the talismanic Gylfi Sigurdsson, they have only lost one of their previous 6 league games.
Paul Clements side may be forced to make some changes, as Kyle Bartley is a doubt, and after switching to a traditional back 4 last week, his side crumbled conceding three late goals. It will be interesting to see what formation the Swans manager will go for in what could be a quite vital game when all is said and done
New signing Sam Clucas, £15 Million from Hull, is not expected to start but could feature as a substitute. However, LLorente is still out for the Welsh side, which is a huge blow, as they are struggling to find the back of the net. After a poor start to the season, both sides will come into the game feeling that they have a point to prove, so we could see a potentially exciting attacking game of football.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 2 Swansea 2
Written by Gafyn Donald.
