Palace v Coventry City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Carl Fletcher

Team news

Carl Fletcher returns to the squad after shaking off an ankle injury. Fellow midfielder Ben Watson is back after undergoing a hernia operation.

Tom Soares is definitely out with an ankle injury he sustained in the recent game against Southampton.

Darren Ward and Gary Borrowdale hope to keep their places in the team. Shefki Kuqi will be looking for a start after coming off the bench to score the winner at Norwich last week.

Coventry manager Micky Adams names an unchanged squad from the win over Leeds. Summer signings Wayne Andrews and Mikkel Bischoff (both ankle) are sidelined.

New signing Leon McKenzie could make his full debut after his £1m switch from Norwich City.

Coventry City - league stats

Full league table

Coventry City - current form

Full form table

Our home record v Coventry City

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
22/11/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Coventry City
15/10/2005	League	Coventry City	1 - 4	Crystal Palace
20/09/2005	League Cup	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Coventry City
09/05/2004	League	Coventry City	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
29/11/2003	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 1	Coventry City

All time results

One to watch

Stern John

It felt like I had one foot in the grave last Saturday, I just couldn’t believe that we’d leave Carrow Road with three points and a clean sheet. After a few changes in personnel due to injuries and poor performances, we looked a brighter side and actually took the game to the home team [in the second half]. Again, we had a few players out of position but once they had settled down they all performed admirably.

The first half was a bit of a drab affair. Both teams seemed to try feeling each other, passed the ball about and were reluctant to push forward. This changed in the second half when Palace started to dominate the game. We kept possession of the ball, moved forward surprisingly quickly and put some excellent moves together.

It seemed like it was going to be one of those days for Clinton where nothing was going to go over the line – a bit like an Iain Dowie transfer. He had ample opportunities to score but his attempts were either blocked or cleared off the line [or ruled out completely].

We approached the full time whistle, most of us probably content to walk away from Carrow Road with a point but guess what – we managed to bag ourselves another last minute goal. This time super sub was new signing Shefki Kuqi. After a few anonymous performances at his debut game and home debut, he came up with the goods and nodded in a Mark Kennedy corner.

How he managed to get that high to get his head to it in the first place, I have no idea. He just has one hell of a leap on him. It was fantastic to see the infamous Shefki dive at last while the Red n Blue Army transformed into the Seven Nation Army. As always, Norwich is a fantastic day out – brilliant atmosphere, plenty of booze and someone from Uni spotting you.

Anyway, this week we have the mighty Coventry in Town. We have a very even record against Norwich. Games won, lost and drawn and goals scored and conceded all linger at around the same mark. They’ve not beaten us at Selhurst since 1998 when we were both in the Premiership. Last season was a very good year to play them with 3 wins out of 3. Before that though, we just couldn’t win against them – not since the old first division – and by Old I mean before the formation of the Premiership.

Wayne Andrews has electric pace, as we all remember and would be a threat to any defence that lacks discipline and speed. Andrews is unfortunately injured and will not be playing.

This week’s One 2 Watch is Trinidad and Tobago striker, Stern John. He’s the top scorer for Trinidad and Tobago with 65 goals in 93 appearances. He averages about a goal every three games for Coventry. He was pushed out of the team when James Scowcroft first arrived at Coventry and is just forcing his way back into the side.

On another note, Darren Ward is likely to be up against his brother, Elliott. This will hopefully push Darren’s performance levels up a touch in an attempt to outdo his brother. Scowcroft will return to Coventry for the day and, following the traditional rule, will hopefully score against his old club.

There will be a touch more blue than red in the ground on Saturday but that shouldn’t stop you getting behind the true Red n Blue.

Last meeting

Coventry 1 (1) - 4(2) C Palace Heath 45 Ward 14 Morrison 45 Watson 58 Macken 90 At Ricoh Arena on 15-10-2005

Coventry: Bywater ,Duffy ,Shaw ,Heath ,Hall ,Nalis ,Doyle ,Hughes (Sofiane ,45 ) ,McSheffrey ,Adebola (Morrell ,79 ) ,Scowcroft (Jorgensen ,68(sent off 82)) Subs not used: Whing,Flood,

C Palace: Kiraly ,Butterfield ,Hall ,Ward ,Boyce ,McAnuff ,Watson (Hughes ,62 ) ,Soares ,Reich ,Freedman (Macken ,87 ) ,Morrison (Johnson ,79) Subs not used Speroni,Hudson,

Bookings: Nalis (Coventry)

Attendance: 24438

Referee: A G Wiley (Staffordshire)

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