The Eagles played their third home game in a row on Tuesday night, against manager-less Portsmouth. In previous meetings the sides have been fairly evenly matched, each winning their fair share of games. With Portsmouth on a run of no away wins all season and The Eagles on a run of 7 unbeaten with 5 consecutive clean sheets, Crystal Palace were heavy favorites to take all three points, but football is not played on paper.
Both sides displayed excellent defensive abilities in the opening stages, Anthony Gardner and Nathaniel Clyne impressing for Palace. It took just over twenty minutes for either side to create any real threat on goal, with Clyne and right-wing skill machine Wilfried Zaha combining well for Clyne to get in on goal, but couldn't get the ball out from under his feet inside the box and Pompey cleared.
The visitors soon came back with some great pressure of their own; Liam Lawrence's header going just over the bar before Tal Ben Haim's crashed agaisnt it, Speroni beaten, The Eagles saved by the woodwork.
The Eagles continued to attack from the flanks but Pompey's experienced side showed it's age as they dealt with crosses from the likes of Jonathan Parr and Dean Moxey.
The second half saw the visitors come out fighting with Joel Ward's cross-come-shot almost lobbing 'keeper Julian Speroni but the Argentinian turnd it behind for a corner.
The second half continued and there were no real efforts on goal, referee Darren Drysdale blew his well on far too many occasions for my liking but there was no unintentional bias to be seen.
Lone strker for The Eagles Glenn Murray seemed isolated for the most part of the game as Palace tried time after time to knock it long for him, to no avail.
With a shuffle from both managers to attempt to break the deadlock, Darren Ambrose made way for Jermaine Easter to provide Murray with some attacking partnership going into the last fifteen minutes but time was running out.
Goalkeeper for the visitors, Stephen Henderson had yet to make a notable save but Julian Speroni had made at least four, a scary moment of panic in the dying stages saw the ball take a dodgy bounce from a long range effort, bouncing off of Speroni's left shoulder and back into play, the defence managed to clear it away. The last real chance came with the visitors as Dave Kitson headed over the bar from seven yards.
0-0 the final score, Pompey dropping to 20th in the table, Palace drop one place to 4th.
Team News
Lee Hills remains the only long term absentee for Dougie Freedman's Crystal Palace, Owen Garvan was expected to have returned by now but is yet to appear since supposedly returning from his knee injury. If selected, this fixture will be Aleksander Tunchev's last, as his loan expires on the day.
Manager of The Bluebirds Malky Mackay will have a near full-fit squad to choose from this week following an injury crisis last month. One or two players are not expected to be match fit but still available for selection.
Preview
The Eagles travel to Wales this weekend, more specifically Cardiff, even more specifically Cardiff City Stadium, home of The Bluebirds.
The Welsh outfit were contenders for play-offs last season, being snuffed out by Reading in the second leg of their play-off semi finals. This season looks to hold a similar fate for the one remaining Welsh side in the football league, companions Swansea City were successful in their promotion campaign, gaining a spot in the top flight. With Cardiff sitting just below Palace in the league this season, both sides will hope to edge away from their play-off place pals.
Crystal Palace have been on form recently, keeping six consecutive clean sheets and going 7 games without being defeated. Their two most recent games have both ended in a scoreless draw, both games being played at home, this is their first away fixture for two weeks.
In recent meetings, the sides have been fairly evenly matched as they've drawn twice in the last six and in the other five fixtures, bar one, there has been only one goal between them.
Overall, the sides have met a total of 59 times, The Eagles taking 28 wins, The Bluebirds 12. So the stats overall, favour Crystal Palace but as we all know, football is not played on paper and you can be sure to see a strong contest when these two sides take to the field on Saturday. As it's Guy Fawkes' night, expect fireworks!
My CPFC line-up
Speroni
Clyne McCarthy Gardner Moxey
Wright
Zaha Parr
Ambrose
Scannell Murray
Subs: Price, Ramage, Jedinak, Williams, Easter
Cardiff's last six:
L-D-D-W-D-D
Last time out:
Crystal Palace 1-0 Cardiff City
Kagisho Dikgacoi (82')
Match Facts:
- Crystal Palace have beaten Cardiff more than double the amount their opponents have got the better of them.
- Cardiff's 12 wins against Palace have all come in the league, Palace have won two of the three League Cup games, winning the third on aggregate.
- Crystal Palace score an average of 1.43 goals away from home, conceding 1.
- Cardiff score an average of 2.14 goals at home, conceding 1.42.
- The last team to score three goals against the other was Crystal Palace in 1985, before this both sides scored 3 in 1973.
- The largest scoring game between the sides was in 1934 when Palace beat Cardiff 6-1.
My Prediction
Considering neither side has scored more than two in the last sixteen games:
Cardiff City 1-1 Crystal Palace
Whittingham Scannell
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