On the back of two away annihilations, Crystal Palace will welcome a return to Selhurst Park soil on Saturday, when they host European outsiders Bournemouth in their next Premier League assignment.
The Seagulls conceded five on the road for the second time in four days on Wednesday, being blown away 5-0 by Newcastle United, whereas the Cherries finally claimed a long-awaited victory at home to Fulham by a goal to nil.
Match preview
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"Throw it in the bin" was Oliver Glasner's analysis of Newcastle vs. Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening, where the Magpies took a leaf out of Manchester City's book and put five past the Eagles' beleaguered backline at St James' Park.
Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Alexander Isak all breached Dean Henderson's goal, as did Marc Guehi, who has now scored own goals both home and away against Newcastle this season; the only previous player to do so against a single opponent in one Premier League season was Jamie Carragher vs. Tottenham Hotspur in 1998-99.
Having also been humbled 5-2 at the home of champions Man City, despite finding themselves 2-0 up at the Etihad, Palace have now conceded as many goals in their last two games as they did in their previous 17 before that, and the coveted top half is out of reach for the time being.
The 12th-placed hosts are now five points adrift of Brighton & Hove Albion in 10th spot and 11 behind Aston Villa in seventh, so a European adventure will surely have to wait, but Glasner's men will welcome a return to familiar territory with open arms.
Indeed, Crystal Palace are going in search of their fifth consecutive win at Selhurst Park across all competitions this weekend, and Glasner's men have found the back of the net in each of their last 12 home fixtures since drawing a blank in November's 2-0 defeat to Fulham.
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Avoiding the same fate as their upcoming hosts against the Cottagers, an out-of-sorts Bournemouth unit snapped a five-game winless run in all competitions and six-match streak without success in the Premier League when Fulham rocked up to the South Coast on Monday evening.
With just 53 seconds on the clock, Antoine Semenyo's fine left-footed strike sailed into the bottom corner to settle the scores, although Andoni Iraola was equally indebted to Kepa Arrizabalaga, who made a string of seven saves to keep the Cottagers at bay.
While the Champions League dream should stay a dream for now, the eighth-placed Cherries are not out of the continental question entirely, sitting six points below Chelsea and Aston Villa with six games remaining.
Iraola's men would therefore need a couple of results elsewhere to go their way to force themselves into the precious top-seven spots, but their penchant for goals on the road stands them in good stead, having struck a whopping 32 times away from home in this season's Premier League.
Only champions-elect Liverpool (40) boast more goals on rival turf, and Bournemouth can also proudly show off three clean sheets from their last three Premier League games against Crystal Palace, most recently playing out a drab 0-0 draw at the Vitality Stadium on Boxing Day.
Team News
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The only positive that Palace could take from their St James' Park pummelling was seeing no more players pick up any fresh injuries, meaning that Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucoure (both knee) are the hosts' only absentees at present.
While Wednesday's mauling may have just been a one-off, Glasner should not shy away from making a couple of alterations, and Adam Wharton is undoubtedly first in line for a return to the starting lineup.
Daichi Kamada and Eddie Nketiah are strong candidates for starts in the final third too, but the latter has just one Premier League goal to his name this term, while Kamada is yet to score or assist in 28 top-flight matches in 2024-25.
Likewise, Bournemouth should be working with an identical or strengthened group of players from their triumph over Fulham, where Marcos Senesi was taken off at half time, but that change was seemingly tactical given he was on a yellow card.
Marcus Tavernier recovered from injury to make a substitute cameo on Monday, but Luis Sinisterra (thigh) and Justin Kluivert (knock) both missed out; the former has been ruled out of this one too, but Kluivert has a good chance of making the cut.
Ryan Christie (groin) and Enes Unal (knee) remain out for the long-term for the visitors.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Wharton, Mitchell; Eze, Kamada; Mateta
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Kepa; Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Adams, Cook; Semenyo, Kluivert, Ouattara; Evanilson
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We say: Crystal Palace 1-2 Bournemouth
As disastrous as Crystal Palace were in midweek, there is every chance that Wednesday's woeful display was simply an outlier, and Glasner's men need no lessons in finding the back of the net at home.
However, Bournemouth have been making goals bulge for fun on the road all season long, and the revitalised Cherries can also capitalise on their hosts' midweek fatigue to inflict a third successive defeat on them.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
