As readers know Santa keeps his elves working all the twelve days of Christmas. If we are looking for anything earlier, we have to hope that SP and DF have established contact with the transfer fairy. The tooth fairy visits when children are asleep, so the telltale sign is sleeping bags being delivered to the training ground.

38 points is enough for safety most seasons. Last time more were needed was 2010/11. That's 3 wins and a draw from where we are now. No need for any panic buys

I doubt if we will sign more than one player and another on loan. The club is up for sale, negotiations are apparently ongoing, so the Americans aren’t going to sanction much spending especially with our current league position.
It’s an opportunity to blood some youngsters as seen yesterday and injured players will be coming back. The situation may change if we sell some high earners ie Zaha or Benteke.

I see what you're saying but given our superior goal difference I think 38 will be enough.

Spot on! Look at what happened to Newcastle yesterday FIVE injuries in one match (four of which Bruce put down to the congested fixture list and a lack of serious options in his squad). I expect Roy to put out a virtual reserve side for the cup game so that the first team squad still standing get the time to recuperate that they need. A couple of reinforcements sooner in the window than later would be more than welcome

I was reprimanded by a moderator for including this paragraph in a post about injuries in Palace Talk. I thought it had a legitimate link to the previous paragraph, but have now removed it and am giving it a post of its own in this transfer thread.

"Meanwhile what kind of inward transfers do we need? We had always needed a new RB, creative midfielder and striker. Do Wickham and Pierrick provide alternative strikers? And what are our defensive priorities in view of the absurd injury list?"

Edited by peterg (02 Jan 2020 5.23pm)

The right place at the right time