Palace v Stoke City

Selhurst Park, Sunday 2.15pm

Pape Souare

Story so far

Well the Eagles gained their first league win of the season up at Middlesbrough last weekend - hurrah! They have now gone three games in all comps unbeaten as they entertain Stoke at Selhurst Park on Sunday.

The Potters, meanwhile, are anchored to the bottom of the Premier League table with just a point from their opening four outings, though they have had strong opponents.

Palace won both league fixtures 2-1 against The Potters last season – while also knocking them out of the FA Cup – and have not lost their last five home fixtures against them.

I'm backing another 2-1 victory for Alan Pardew's troops at 17/2 with bet365 or betVictor.

The last three league match-ups and also eight of the last 12 went OVER 2.5 goals, so I'll be throwing my cash on that at 6/5 with Paddy Power.

Christian Benteke opened his Palace account with a strike at Boro and you can back him to be the first scorer at 9/2 with Paddy Power.

Scott Dann is worth a punt as anytime scorer at 11/1 with Paddy Power also.

Team news

Palace left back Pape Souare has been confirmed that he will be on sidelines for up to six months after he broke his thigh bone in a car crash last week.

Forward Connor Wickham and winger Bakary Sako are now available again after regaining fitness, but Yohan Cabaye is a doubt (groin).

Stoke defender Glen Johnson is back after overcoming a knee injury, along with striker Mame Diouf. However, playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri is still missing due to a calf injury.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"We think [Pape] will make a full recovery. It was a serious incident and we are thankful he is in the best possible care.

"I think we have reminded him that his injuries are not as bad as they might have been, we are still not quite sure of some of the muscle injuries due to the trauma he has been under but we think he looks okay.

"It was a blow for us because we had a great win at the weekend and that really put back our emotions because we were all worried."

Mark Hughes

"We've got games coming up where we feel we have real opportunities to win, so we are not concerned. Performance-wise we haven't as yet been able to put together a solid 90 minute Premier League performance. That will come.

"You need at least eight or nine players at the top level to get results in the Premier League and we've had two or three not quite at the right level."

Stoke City - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
07/05/2016	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Stoke City
30/01/2016	FA Cup	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Stoke City
19/12/2015	League	Stoke City	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
21/03/2015	League	Stoke City	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
13/12/2014	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 1	Stoke City

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 2-1 Stoke City

Saturday May 07 2016

Palace: Hennessey, Souare, Delaney, Dann, Ward, Puncheon, Cabaye (Ledley, 45 (Mutch, 56)), Bolasie, McArthur, Wickham, Gayle (Sako, 89)

Subs not used: Speroni, Kelly, Campbell, Adebayor

Goals: Gayle (47, 68)

Bookings: McArthur, Souare

Stoke City: Haugaard, Pieters, Shawcross, Bardsley, Cameron, Shaqiri (Ireland, 65), Arnautovic, Adam (Walters, 65), Whelan (Krkic, 75), Imbula, Crouch

Subs not used: Joselu, Bachmann, Wollscheid, Biram Diouf

Goals: Adam (26)

Bookings: Pieters, Whelan, Ireland

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