Palace v Hull City

Selhurst Park, Tuesday 8.00pm

The Holmesdale Online

Story so far

Crystal Palace moved out of the relegation zone in their last Premier League fixture, defeating Stoke 1-0. That was Palace’s fourth clean sheet in the nine games since Pulis took charge, a record bettered only by Arsenal.

Jason Puncheon deserves credit for keeping his confidence up despite his penalty miss against Spurs, and scored the winner against Stoke. Puncheon has had 30 shots at goal this season, returning two goals and getting 46.67% on target. That’s almost twice as many shots at goal as his nearest team mate, Cameron Jerome, who has had 18 shots at goal. Puncheon is an industry best price of 12/1 with 888sport.com to score first against Hull.

Mile Jedinak continues to hold his position as the player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to have won the most tackles this season, with 77. However, both Claudio Yacob and Lucas Leiva are challenging him having won 76 each, although Jedinak has the best percentage won rating with 75.5%.

Julian Speroni has mentioned in recent interviews his hope to make the Argentina squad for the World Cup, and he’s certainly going the right way about it. Speroni has made 60 saves this season and 30 clearances.

Hull City lost 1-0 to Norwich in their last outing, making it three successive defeats since they beat Fulham 6-0.

Maynor Figueroa did his best to cancel out Norwich’s attacking threat, making 8 interceptions, more than any other player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index

That took Figueroa’s interceptions for the season to 59, the fourth highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. He’s now five ahead of team mate Curtis Davies, who has made 54 and is ranked fifth.

Tom Huddlestone hit the headlines a few weeks ago, as his first goal for the Tigers meant that he could finally cut his hair after 32 months letting it grow.

It’s clear that he hasn’t lost his Samsonite passing ability, as the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that he completed a pass in the opposition half at an impressive rate of a pass every 4 minutes. He is an industry best price of 23/2 with 888sport.com to score at any time against Crystal Palace

Since moving to the KC Stadium in 2011 Liam Rosenior has become somewhat synonymous with the club, racking up a total of 116 appearances. So far this season, Rosenior has appeared in 14 of Hull’s 22 fixtures and if he continues to perform like he did against Norwich, he should expect to feature in many more.

The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that he won a staggering 7 out of 8 challenges against Norwich – only Nabil Bentaleb won more tackles in this round of Premier League fixtures.

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

Team news

Crystal Palace left-back Jonathan Parr is sidelined after suffering concussion in Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup loss at Wigan. He collided with Callum McManaman, and after lying on the turf for several minutes, had to be stretchered off with an oxygen mask.

Meanwhile, Jerome Thomas and Kagisho Dikgacoi are missing with calf injuries.

Hull striker Shane Long is set to make his debut after shaking off an ankle knock and will partner fellow new signing Nikica Jelavic. James Chester (hamstring) and Sone Aluko (Achilles) are still out.

Palace: Speroni, Price, Ward, Gabbidon, McCarthy, Delaney, Mariappa, Moxey, Puncheon, Jedinak, Bannan, Jerome, Guedioura, Campana, O'Keefe, Williams, Gayle, Chamakh, Bolasie.

Hull: McGregor, Harper, Davies, Faye, Figueroa, Bruce, McShane, Rosenior, Elmohamady, Boyd , Brady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler, Koren, Sagbo, Long, Jelavic, Graham, Fryatt.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"There are going to be people who say: 'Is [the reason we have not strengthened] because we have done so well? We have pulled out of the bottom three, after all. We will have to wait and see.

"But there are four days left to go and we are desperate to bring players in and we are disappointed. We have had the targets and we haven't been able to get them over the line. We will keep trying. It is very difficult to say whether we'll sign anyone: the important thing is we get our heads down and try and get a few in. We will see in the next week what we do and what we come up with.

"The lads have been smashing since I've come in. The attitude and commitment of the players has been wonderful but we do need to improve and we do need to strengthen the squad. There are areas we have tried to improve but we have just fallen down on one or two deals.

"It doesn't mean we won't end up signing a few but, as I said, I was hoping to do it earlier in the window because it takes time for them to come in and gel and the biggest thing for us is to get the results as quick as we can."

Steve Bruce

"He's magnificently organised. They're going to be difficult to beat, I don't know how many times they've won 1-0. They'll be well-drilled and very disciplined, typical Tony.

"We haven't beaten Palace since I've been here. It's a difficult game for us. They beat us handsomely down there last year (4-2 in March). Thankfully, we finished above them in the league but they still went up. With Tony in charge, it just shows you. His way is proven if he's given the chance.

"You could say we haven't won in three but two of those games are Liverpool away and Chelsea at home. It's up to us. We know what's at stake and we've got a great chance but this is the hard part now."

Hull City - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
23/11/2013	League	Hull City	0 - 1	Crystal Palace
05/03/2013	League	Crystal Palace	4 - 2	Hull City
27/11/2012	League	Hull City	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
17/03/2012	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Hull City
20/08/2011	League	Hull City	0 - 1	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Hull City 0-1 Palace

Saturday November 23 2013

Hull City: McGregor, McShane (Rosenior, 58), Davies, Figueroa, Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Koren (Gedo, 77), Boyd, Livermore, Sagbo, Brady (Graham, 45)

Subs not used: Bruce, Faye, Harper, Meyler

Palace: Speroni, Gabbidon, Moxey, Ward, Delaney, Dikgacoi (O'Keefe, 75), Bannan, Jedinak, Gayle (Puncheon, 86), Chamakh (Jerome, 36), Bolasie

Subs not used: Mariappa, Alexander, Phillips, Williams

Goals: Bannan (81)

Sent off: Bolasie (78)

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