Secondly, welcome back! It's been a busy two weeks for the family at Selhurst Park, with good and bad news. The good news of course being that Norwich City striker, Chris Martin has signed a loan deal for Crystal Palace, which sees him train and play with The Eagles up until January 2nd 2012. Sadly, there is bad news, youngster Jonathan Williams was seriously injured in a Wales U21 fixture with Armenia on Tuesday, he suffered a broken fibula in his right leg. The club website has released an article with the following quote:
"A scan last night showed that Palace midfielder Jonny Williams has broken his fibula in his right leg. At this stage the injury looks like a non-displaced fracture meaning an operation shouldn't be needed, however he is due to have another scan later this week which will give the club further details of the extent of the injury."
Unfortunately, this injury will see young Jonny's leg in plaster for four to six weeks, with the approximate sidelined time being three to four months, which rules him out of the double against Millwall, the home fixture against Br*ghton, Southampton away as well as our Carling Cup fixture against, Premier League title holders, Manchester United. I, as many of you are, am wishing Jonny a speedy recovery and we hope to hear of his return to training by January!
On a lighter note, the boys in red and blue travel to the King Power Stadium (formerly The Walker Stadium) to face-off against moneybags Leicester City, in the nPower Championship. The Foxes were recently rumoured to have been on the prowl for Eagles' boss Dougie Freedman. The rumours, however, turned out to be just that, invented by Sky Sports! Now onto the preview:
Team News:
The Eagles face their first fixture back from the International Break without long term absentees Lee Hills (knee), Alex Marrow, who suffered a setback in recovering from a previous injury, and of course new boy to the list, Jonathan Williams (leg). Apart from Williams, there are no new injuries for Freedman to worry about, however the club has signed striker Chris Martin on loan.
The Foxes are without veteran striker Darius Vassell who is expected to be out for the rest of the season following a knee operation after he tore medial ligaments and ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament against West Ham three weeks ago.
Preview
Crystal Palace travel to the King Power Stadium on Sunday for a clash with moneybags Leicester City. The Foxes have been manager-less for the majority of the month and have recently whisked Hull City boss Nigel Pearson from the KC Stadium to take over from ex-England coach Sven Goran-Eriksson. Nick Barmby takes over as caretaker at Hull until they have found a replacement as Pearson takes his assistants with him.
With Palace astounding many men this season with their flying start to the Championship, Pearson will be hoping to clip the wings of The Eagles who were unbeaten against City last season, winning the tie at Selhurst Park and fighting for a draw on the away trip.
Eagles boss Dougie Freedman will be hoping to get his boys back to winning form as they lost their first game since 24th September, against Cardiff City just before the break. The Eagles were without a win in just over two weeks before this game as they drew back-to-back home fixtures against Reading and Portsmouth. These results combined, saw Palace drop to sixth, from fourth, in the league standings.
Leicester, in their three games before the break, did grab three points against Burnley but lost their other two fixtures against Leeds and West Ham. Despite losing two more games than Palace in the run-in to the international break, The Foxes still earned more points and bring themselves within six places and three points of the play-off places, the final spot being held up by The Eagles.
In recent meetings the sides are extremely evenly matched, Leicester have only gained one more win over Palace in a total of 57 meetings in all competitions. The sides have drawn 16 times.
My CPFC line-up
Leicester, in their three games before the break, did grab three points against Burnley but lost their other two fixtures against Leeds and West Ham. Despite losing two more games than Palace in the run-in to the international break, The Foxes still earned more points and bring themselves within six places and three points of the play-off places, the final spot being held up by The Eagles.
In recent meetings the sides are extremely evenly matched, Leicester have only gained one more win over Palace in a total of 57 meetings in all competitions. The sides have drawn 16 times.
My CPFC line-up
Speroni
Clyne McCarthy Gardner Moxey
Wright Jedinak
Zaha Parr
Scannell Easter
Subs: Price, Ramage, Dikcagoi, Garvan, Murray
Leicester's last six:
L-W-L-L-W-L
Last time out:
Leicester City 1-1 Crystal Palace
Oakley (58') Scannell (31')
Match Facts:
- Crystal Palace are without a win in 3 games, drawing two of these.
- Leicester have won just two of the last six, losing the other four.
- The Eagles concede an average of 1.13 goals away from home, scoring 1.25.
- The Foxes concede an average of 1.25 goals at home, scoring 1.37.
- Since the season of 05/06 the sides have not gained a win each in the two meetings of a season.
My Predicion:
If the right attitude has been instilled within the boys since their defeat to Cardiff I expect The Eagles to take all three points. Leicester have not drawn at home in eight games, so there's likely to be a winner and a loser in this one, no shared points.
Leicester City 0-2 Crystal Palace
Jedinak
Scannell
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