Crystal Palace – Burnley / Premier League – In the first match of the 23rd round of the English Premier League, the 14th Crystal Palace and the seventh Burnley meet, which currently has a big 12-point advantage. Before this Saturday’s duel, the hosts have a slightly better form of play, while Burnley, on the other hand, has won in the last three joint duels of these two teams in the championship. Both teams have been eliminated from the FA Cup during the last week.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace was defeated 2-1 away to Brighton five days ago in the third round of the FA Cup, after the hosts scored the decisive goal in the 87th minute. Coach Hodgson, however, has thrown off even more the fact that two very important players have suffered injury – defender Schlupp and striker Townsend. This happened exactly at the time when this team in the championship finally started with good games.
Palace has only been defeated once in the last 11 rounds of the Premier League, drawing in many draws so they are currently only two points clear of the 18th Stoke. They took the lead after earning a valuable 2-1 away win against Southampton in the final round. Before that, they drove a goalless home run against Manchester City. Defending players Ward, Sakho and Dann, midfielders Loftus-Cheek and Puncheon and striker Wickham have been injured for a while.
Burnley
In contrast to Palace, which has been playing much better lately than at the season opener, Burnley has deteriorated a lot and is in a series of three draws and three defeats. They continue to be in the brilliant seventh league position in the Premier League, four points ahead of the eighth Leicester and even seven on the ninth Everton. So they do not have much to worry about right now.
That’s why no one blamed them for having beaten Manchester City 1-4 away in the third round of the FA Cup last weekend. It rarely happened that anyone would expect them to perform better than the “Citizens” who were on the move. Goalkeepers Heaton, defender Ward, midfielders Arfield and Brady and striker Wood are also injured, which is why they loaned young striker N’Koudou from Tottenham during the week.
