Palace v Burnley

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Andy Johnson

Story so far

Crystal Palace’s gained their first point last weekend from the 6-goal thriller against Newcastle, and sit level with Burnley who also picked up their first point against Manchester United. This fixture may be early on in the season, but could prove vital in the battle for survival this season.

The game sees manager Neil Warnock make his first return to Selhurst Park since his last stint as manager. Another player returning to Selhurst Park will be Wilfried Zaha. The youngster had a dream return for Palace and despite only being on the pitch for a mere 20 minutes, he still managed to have three attempts on goal, one of which he converted into a goal according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

Marouane Chamakh was also stand out again for Palace as he had an 85% pass completion rate which helped to build up to Palaces goals, his contributions might be greatly needed if his team are to break down the Burnley defence that managed to hold off the likes of Angel Di Maria. With a top speed of 32.76kmph, Palace skipper Mile Jedinak will be hoping to set the pace in the midfield against Burnley in their next game if they are to pull ahead of their opponents in the point table.

With Burnley achieving a 0-0 draw against Manchester United, even when they had new record singing Angel Di Maria on the field this surely praises Burnley’s defence and puts them in good stead against Crystal Palace’s attack who in their last fixture against Newcastle proved that they are not scared to score goals.

Burnley defender Jason Shackell lead the defence by example against United making a staggering 14 clearances throughout the whole game which helped secure his team a vital point against a top side, he will need to carry his defensive skills through to the game against Palace to keep off their attack who managed to gain three goal at St. James’s Park.

Midfielder Scott Arfield has covered the second most ground of any player this season in the division, racking up a total of 37.3km over the first three games. Dyche is likely to be impressed with Arfield’s work rate and will be hoping that he can continue to prosper against Palace this weekend.

Ben Mee was another standout star of the Burnley defensive unit that worked so effectively against United. Mee managed to rack up a total of eight clearances and two interceptions that rendered United’s attack powerless. If Burnley’s attack can match the performance of their defence in their last game then they wont remain in the relegation zone for long.

Team news

New signings James McArthur, Kevin Doyle and Zeki Fryers could make their Crystal Palace debuts, with Andrew Johnson who is set for his second bow for the club.

Midfielder Joe Ledley is available after sitting out the last two league matches, however Marouane Chamakh is struggling with a hamstring injury.

Burnley's new recruits George Boyd, Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane have gone straight into the squad, while striker Danny Ings returns after recovering from illness.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"I have got a lot of time for Sean Dyche. For me, he was very close to being manager of the year last season and I’m looking forward to pitting my wits against him.

"We’ve had a few good battles over the years. Burnley are hard-working but they’ve got quite a lot of ability. You don’t go up without having anything and they’ve added to the squad with some shrewd signings. The ethic is a bit like ourselves and I think both teams work very hard for each other. I expect it to be close encounter.

"The two teams are close so I’m hoping the Palace fans can just sway it. Their strikers are very important to Burnley, then you have Kieran Tripper who is as good a right-back as there is around at the moment. Like us, they probably don’t have many star names but players who are always going to give you a good game."

Sean Dyche

"We are happy with the business we've done. It rounds the group off in a nice way. We've got demand more or less all over the pitch, there's no safety net for players wondering about their shirt and we wanted that.

"It is hard for clubs like ourselves because we can't carry vast squads, and we probably wouldn't wish to, but when the window shuts, it is shut. There's no loans or anything like that so it means you do have to have a deeper squad.

"Neil Warnock's someone who has shown me an awful lot of respect. I know him a little bit and he's always spoken well of myself as a young manager and I do thank him for that because his record speaks for itself at the varying clubs he's had.

"I thought he had chosen the time to say 'no, that's it, I'll go and enjoy the family' - but he's obviously got the bug again which happens in football. It's a great game, that's why we all love it, and he certainly loves it."

Burnley - league stats

Full league table

Burnley - current form

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
12/01/2013	League	Burnley	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
06/10/2012	League	Crystal Palace	4 - 3	Burnley
10/03/2012	League	Burnley	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
13/08/2011	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Burnley
05/03/2011	League	Burnley	1 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Burnley 1-0 Palace

Saturday January 12 2013

Burnley: Grant, Shackell, Duff, Edgar, Trippier, Lafferty, Wallace (Treacy, 82), Marney, Stanislas (Bartley, 82), Vokes, Ings

Subs not used: MacDonald, Richards, O'Neill, Long, Jensen

Goals: Stanislas (81)

Bookings: Treacy

Palace: Speroni, Ramage, Moxey, Delaney, Moritz (Williams, 69), O'Keefe (Nimely, 83), Bolasie (Wilbraham, 89), Jedinak, Parr, Murray, Zaha

Subs not used: Price, Gabbidon, Parsons, Easter

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