Roy Hodson’s side is thin on the ground at the moment, and he has minimal options all over the park, but that doesn’t mean he can’t tweak what he has at his disposal. Against Southampton the Crystal Palace manager opted to go for a five-man midfield, but that only resulted in a 1-1 draw with the Saints, to turn that into a win against Norwich City he should take inspiration from a tweak he made last season.
At times during the previous campaign, especially towards the end, Hodgson was lacking a striker in any form and went for a two-man front line of Wilfred Zaha and Andros Townsend. Against the Canaries, he should once again do this but with the in-form striker, Jordan Ayew, instead lining up next to the Eagles talisman.
Altering the formation to put another body alongside the Ghanaian could help the Eagles top scorer out by easing the burden on him of the opposition defence. There are few better players in the Premier League for distracting defenders than Zaha, with his dribbling ability and trickery, it might just be the move required to give Ayew an inch more space.
If that were the case, then he could either opt for a diamond with the remaining midfield four, or he could use a line of three with Max Meyer as the link to the strikers. That would probably suit the German midfielder more than playing on the right side of midfield, where he was initially included against Southampton, before being substituted.
Crystal Palace have been particularly goal-shy this season, only Watford have scored less than the Eagles 18. The key to their success, which has left them seeing in the New Year in the top half of the table, has been being defensively resolute. Therefore, Hodgson may favour a diamond in midfield which offers more protection to the defence. Luka Milivojevic could be the screening defensive midfielder preventing Norwich City attacks from reaching the weakened Crystal Palace defence who are without several key players.
Hodgson ought to mastermind a win over the Canaries, who have the worst defensive record in the Premier League. Part of defeating them though will require tactical tweaks to put Palace on the front foot.
