Coventry City v Palace

The Ricoh Arena, Saturday 3.00pm

Nathaniel Clyne

Team news

Palace right-back Nathaniel Clyne and midfielder Neil Danns are both doubts. Clyne has a knee injury, while Danns has a back problem.

Coventry striker Marlon King returns to the squad after recovering from a virus and keeper Keiren Westwood has overcome a calf injury. Captain Lee Carsley and Ben Turner are unlikley to be fit in time to play.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"The only doubts we've got for Coventry are Neil Danns and Nathaniel Clyne. Dannzy should be OK, we've been told to give his back 10 days complete rest which we have done so he should be involved in some capacity, but we'll have to monitor it day-by-day.

"Nathaniel is a little bit more of a concern. He damaged his knee against Boro and it looks like he'll be struggling for Saturday which is a real shame because he has been fantastic for us this season.

"Darren [Ambrose] will be the first to admit that he has not been himself in the last few weeks but we have only thrown him in there because of the quality he can bring to the team even when he is not fully fit.

"He is such an important player and he has just been getting through the games for us. But I thought there were signs against Middlesbrough and Watford that he is getting closer and closer.

"Every week he is getting fitter and fitter and that is fantastic news for Crystal Palace. Having Darren fit and firing will be the equivalent of bringing in a top quality signing at a crucial stage of the season. He's a great player and I think he will show everyone that again in the coming weeks."

Aidy Boothroyd

"You always get situations where you have injuries but I've never known anything like this. We've got to get our players back fit and maybe add one or two to boost the squad up a bit. We're moving towards the key part of the season.

"We're not on a very good run right now, that's for sure, but the stats show that we're getting done by the odd goal against good teams and in terms of attitude, application, work rate, you've got to say the performances are good.

"When we've got our best 11 on the pitch I don't fear anybody, but the fact that we've gone so close so often is really irritating.

"If we were getting beaten three or four every week we'd really have a problem but we're talking about fine margins; we're not too far away even though we do keep getting punched in the face.

"But we carry on – it's very difficult right now but that will make it all the better when things start going well and we get a little bit of glory.

"I don't feel sorry for myself and I hope the players don't. We're very, very close to being a good team. The fans who watch our games, who have seen the character and the team spirit know that we're heading in the right direction, even if it is a longer road than we expected it to be."

Coventry City - league stats

Full league table

Coventry City - current form

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
08/01/2011	FA Cup	Coventry City	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
13/11/2010	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Coventry City
20/02/2010	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Coventry City
21/11/2009	League	Coventry City	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
07/04/2009	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 1	Coventry City

All time results

Last meeting

Coventry City 2-1 Palace

Saturday January 08 2011

Coventry City: Westwood, Keogh, Cranie, Wood, O'Halloran, Doyle, Baker, Gunnarsson, Eastwood (O'Donovan, 65), Jutkiewicz (Platt, 84), McSheffrey (Thomas, 72)

Subs not used: Bell, Ireland, Clarke, Cameron

Goals: Eastwood 15, Baker 17

Bookings: O'Donovan

Palace: Speroni, Gardner, Wright, McCarthy, Clyne, Danns, Garvan, Dorman (Andrew, 70), Cadogan (Zaha, 59), N'Diaye (Counago, 42), Iversen

Subs not used: Price, Davis, Barrett, O'Keefe

Goals: Danns 81

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