Palace v Southampton

Selhurst Park, Saturday 12.30pm

Roy Hodgson

Team news

Roy Hodgson welcomes back injured duo Ruben Loftus-Cheek and James Tomkins to the squad for his Eagles managerial debut.

Both players' recovery from groin problems will give the former England boss a lift as he looks to guide the team to their first points of the season.

Defenders Mamadou Sakho (knee) and Pape Souare (hip) could make the bench after playing for the under-23s during the week as they get match fit.

However, winger Wilfried Zaha is not quite ready after suffering a knee injury during the opening day loss to Huddersfield.

Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk may make a return after he missed the final 16 league games of last season with a ligament injury.

Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will sit the match out due to the birth of his daughter in Denmark.

Palace: Hennessey, Speroni, Riedewald, Dann, Delaney, Fosu-Mensah, Tomkins, Kelly, Ward, Sakho, Lee, McArthur, Cabaye, Loftus-Cheek, Milivojevic, Mutch, Puncheon, Sako, Schlupp, Souare, Kaikai, Townsend, Van Aanholt, Benteke

Southampton: Forster, McCarthy, Stephens, Bertrand, Targett, McQueen, Soares, Pied, Yoshida, Hoedt, Van Dijk, Bednarek, Davis, Tadic, Romeu, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Lemina, Long, Boufal, Austin, Gabbiadini.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"I'm a Premier League manager at a good team that has started the season poorly. That's obviously why I'm here. If the team had started well, I wouldn't be here. I'm fully aware of that.

"I expect the pressures that all Premiership managers work under, but I don't feel extra pressure because of anything that's happened in my past, be it England, Inter, Liverpool or any other team you care to name.

"That's a very difficult start [my first four games], we are playing three of the very top teams in the league, but I don't look at four matches, I'm looking at 34 matches. What happens to us will be decided in May.

"I don't even know the exact date at the moment but that's when it will be decided and everything we're going to be doing from now until then will be based on how can we get points during that period, and making sure we get enough points to ensure that we stay in the league because the club has a very clear goal and ambition and that is to finish the season as Premier League team."

Jason Puncheon

"We need a reaction to our start of the season and there is no doubt it will be a tough one to play as they also come here on the back of a disappointing result. This is a typical Premier League game with both teams giving their all to fight for a vital three points.

"Ultimately we need to win the game but as long as we leave that game with a clean sheet we've got a point."

Mauricio Pellegrino

"When you change a manager everything is up in the air because nobody knows what will happen. I know (Hodgson's) history as a manager. When I was at Liverpool (as a player in 2005) he was at Fulham and obviously he's a manager with a long history behind him. He has a lot of experience.

"But now I don't have too much reference. For the manager the context is everything for me, from my point of view. We need to wait a little more to draw a conclusion. 'The only thing that I know that it's a really good group of players."

Southampton - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
05/04/2017	League	Southampton	3 - 1	Crystal Palace
03/12/2016	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 0	Southampton
21/09/2016	League Cup	Southampton	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
15/05/2016	League	Southampton	4 - 1	Crystal Palace
09/01/2016	FA Cup	Southampton	1 - 2	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Southampton 3-1 Palace

Wednesday April 05 2017

Southampton: Forster, Soares, Yoshida, Stephens, McQueen, Tadic, Romeu, Redmond (Rodriguez, 89), Ward-Prowse, Davis (Hojbjerg, 87), Long

Subs not used: Clasie, Hassan, Caceres, Pied, Sims

Goals: Redmond (45), Yoshida (84), Ward-Prowse (85)

Bookings: Soares, Romeu

Palace: Hennessey, Kelly, Schlupp (Delaney, 58), Ward, Sakho, Townsend, Puncheon, Milivojevic (Flamini, 88), Cabaye (Sako, 45), Zaha, Benteke

Subs not used: Fryers, Kaikai, Speroni, Lee

Goals: Benteke (31)

Bookings: Benteke

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