Palace v Cardiff City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Lennie Lawrence

Team news

Midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi is a doubt for Crystal Palace after suffering concussion in the midweek 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Danny Gabbidon is not yet match fit to play against his former club after joining this week as a free agent. Ex-Cardiff defender Darcy Blake may be selected against his home town side.

Cardiff striker Nicky Maynard (knee) is out but Craig Bellamy is expected to play after being rested in midweek, while defender Ben Turner has recovered from a foot injury.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"Danny Gabbidon's been training with us a few times over the past couple of weeks. There was nothing really in it as we were trying to keep him fit and he just showed so much quality in training.

"Paddy McCarthy is obviously missing and we've got no indication of when he's coming back, so we just felt it was a good deal for us.

"He's a great guy, has good experience, and with a lot of games coming thick and fast, I just feel that the more experience we can get around the squad, the better.

"I checked out his fitness record and he was available for every match last year at Queens Park Rangers, so I've done all my due diligence on it.

"We may have to look at Saturday against Cardiff whether he can play 10-15 minutes for us, but he certainly brings experience which we could all do with.

"He does feel fit but our science department feel he's not quite where he should be, so the last thing we want to do is to throw him in there and get a muscle injury."

Lennie Lawrence

"Playing against one of my other former clubs will be an interesting test on Saturday. They spent up to £10million over the summer and they carry a massive attacking threat, so we'll need to defend as well as we possibly can.

"But we also carry some attacking threat with Wilfried Zaha, Glenn Murray, Jonny Williams and Yannick Bolasie, so it will be a fascinating game.

"Having Wilfried and Yannick on both wings is exciting for the fans and it opens up space, so we're hoping that continues to develop.

"I've got fond memories of when I was manager at Cardiff and I think I was the last man to win a play-off final with them. I got them up from League One in 2003 and then I was with them for two years in the Championship before I left. They have been in many finals since then, but they haven't won one.

"Everyone was boosted from last Friday [at Charlton] and feeling on the up, but Nottingham Forest did present us with a different set of problems on Tuesday.

"They passed it around well and they changed their position with lots of movement off the ball with an open and expansive game - it was very different to Charlton.

"I think we showed we were the better team in the first half [at Charlton] and we had a bit of luck with their goal disallowed, but we've had some misfortune ourselves in the past, so these things even out.

"We showed that defensive resilience, which served us so well at times last season, and it was also another fantastic following from the fans. We haven't lost a London derby at home or away for a while, and we include Brighton in that, which for the fans is massively important."

Cardiff City - league stats

Full league table

Cardiff City - current form

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
28/04/2012	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Cardiff City
24/01/2012	League Cup	Cardiff City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
10/01/2012	League Cup	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Cardiff City
05/11/2011	League	Cardiff City	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
08/03/2011	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Cardiff City

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 1-2 Cardiff City

Saturday April 28 2012

Palace: Price, Parr, McCarthy, Moxey, Parsons, Ambrose (De Silva 73), Garvan, O'Keefe, Scannell (Pedroza 54), Zaha, Murray.

Subs Not Used: Fitzsimons, Wynter, Sekajja.

Cardiff City: Marshall, McNaughton (Blake 72), Hudson, Turner, Taylor, Lawrence, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Cowie, Miller (Gestede 79), Mason (Earnshaw 90).

Subs Not Used: Heaton, McPhail.

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