Palace v Fulham

Selhurst Park, Monday 8.00pm

Story so far

Crystal Palace could not find the performance necessary to halt a very strong Liverpool outfit during the last round, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Anfield.

Despite Dwight Gayle grabbing a second-half consolation goal Palace were unable to contain a Liverpool side full of attacking intent and bolstered by Luis Suarez on his return to Anfield. Jason Puncheon has been a smart acquisition for Palace following his arrival on loan from Southampton. So far this season he’s racked up 113 successful passes in the opponent’s half, the highest total of any Palace player.

He’s also been Palace’s most effective attacker, compiling a squad-leading total of 18 attacking contributions (assists, crosses, dribbles, shots on goal). Puncheon is 4/1 to score at any time this weekend with 888sport.com.

Mile Jedinak was once again the defensive stalwart for Palace last weekend, as he has been for much of the season to this point. Only Aaron Ramsey has attempted more tackles that the Australian this season (43) and even he cannot match Jedinak’s impressive success rate of 74.4%.

However, even Jedinak cannot compete with Danny Gabbidon’s physical commitment to the cause, leading the Hammers squad as he does for blocks with 10 which also places him second on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

A vital goal from Darren Bent secured all three points for Fulham and relieved the pressure on embattled manager Martin Jol, as they produced a 1-0 home win over Stoke. Fulham fans will be hoping that this is the turning of the tide and will be looking for Jol’s men to capitalise on their newfound momentum against Palace this weekend.

Adel Taarabt continues to impress when give the chance this season, boasting the best accuracy rate in front of goal of any Fulham player this season with 80% of his 5 attempts on goal testing the opposition goalkeeper. Taarabt is 4/1 with 888sport.com to score at any time against Palace.

Martin Jol will be hoping that last weekend’s clean sheet will be the first of many to come, especially with David Stockdale currently sitting as the third busiest ‘keeper in the league with 27 saves according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

Captain Bred Hangleand continues to lead from the front in defence this season, the giant centre-half racking up a squad-leading 69 defensive contributions. He will looking to improve his current tackle success rate though, 44.4% from 9 attempted challenges representing far too low a rate for a defender of his quality.

The goals have not flowed as easily as Martin Jol would have hoped at the beginning of this season, but his players must start getting more attempts on goal away if this is to improve. So far no Fulham player has broken into double-figures for total attempts on goal according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

Data supplied by the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Select and manage your own team of stars at fantasy.premierleague.com or with FIFA Ultimate Team for FIFA 14.

Team news

Eagles winger Yannick Bolasie could make his first start of the season after impressing off the bench at Liverpool before the international break.

Left-back Jonathan Parr is back in training after recovering from his ankle ligament injury, while Paddy McCarthy is stepping up his training routine after his long-term groin problem.

Fulham midfielder Scott Parker should make a return after overcoming a calf problem. Defender Aaron Hughes may feature as he gets over a thigh injury, while Adel Taarabt fit after returning from international duty.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"It's in the past now [about Darren Bent snubbing Palace]. Fulham did very well to get him, so well done to Martin. We had a couple of discussions about it and I thought he was turning up at our training ground, but you've never got them in your keep net until they're there.

"At the time I got a camera shoved in my face 30 seconds after finding out he had signed for Fulham. I do apologise to Martin and didn't realise they hadn't announced it at the time.

"We know we need to get a win and there is nothing wrong at Palace that a good three points will put right. We have to face up that what we have been doing is not good enough, although a lot of it has not been far off. I thought we played really well at Liverpool and showed all sorts of character, but we need points on the board.

"Paddy is well on the way to getting back. I hope he will be ready in about three weeks. It was always going to be a gamble including him in our 25, as to whether he would be ready or not before January.

"We felt Paddy would have more influence in the dressing room than Florian Marange [left out of 25-man squad], and we thought he might be fit a little earlier.

"But whether or not he is fit, we need his type of people. His attitude has been sensational. He always believes we are going to get better and stronger. He has had a couple of breakdowns in training, and now I hope there won't be any more."

Steve Parish

"We always get a good atmosphere at Selhurst Park and we do need to try and win our home games. We have had more away games so far, so this week is a chance to try and get our season back on track. We are looking forward to the game, like we do every game, with Fulham and Arsenal both coming up.

"They will be difficult games and Arsenal especially will be tough, but in an ideal world we want to be aiming for four points from those two games. That is what we will be targeting.

"I think we have done better on the pitch than the results suggest so far. When you look at the games, there have been some big turning points and decisions that have gone against us.

"We have had three penalties against us and you could argue that they have been quite harsh. The one against Spurs was harsh and the one at Manchester United was outside the box – they say that they even themselves out so hopefully our luck will change with that."

Darren Bent

"There was a lot of talk [about Palace]. I spoke to Ian Holloway but I always knew Fulham was the place for me. I am here now and I am delighted to be here.

"No disrespect to Crystal Palace or Ian Holloway, it is a fantastic football club and he is a fantastic manager. I could only ever see myself coming to Fulham."

Martin Jol

"It's not easy to go away from home and play against these teams. If you saw Crystal Palace away against Liverpool, in the second half they could have scored more goals than one. Of course, it was 3-0 [to Liverpool] going into the second half but they could have scored two or three.

"They're a strong team and it will be difficult but I think we've got the qualities and the players to get a result. It's the Premier League, so it will be difficult, but hopefully we'll get the points."

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Fulham - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
17th	7	2	1	4	7

Full league table

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
01/01/2005	League	Fulham	3 - 1	Crystal Palace
04/10/2004	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Fulham
17/03/2001	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 2	Fulham
18/10/2000	League	Fulham	3 - 1	Crystal Palace
01/04/2000	League	Fulham	1 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

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Last meeting

Fulham 3-1 Palace

Saturday January 01 2005

Fulham: Van der Sar, Volz (Rosenior, 76), Knight, Rehman, Bocanegra, Malbranque (Clark, 82), Pembridge, Diop, Boa Morte (John, 89), Radzinski, Cole

Subs not used: Crossley, McBride

Bookings: Knight

Goals: Cole 4, Cole 60, Radzinski 73

Palace: Kiraly, Butterfield, Popovic, Hall, Granville, Routledge, Riihilahti (Torghelle, 65), Soares, Lakis (Andrews, 79), Johnson, Hughes (Leigertwood, 64)

Subs not used: Speroni, Boyce

Bookings: Butterfield, Popovic, Soares

Goals: Johnson 35 (pen)

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