In what has been a very mixed year for the Eagles, it comes to a conclusion with the visit of struggling Southampton who have just installed a new manager.
MATCH INFORMATION
| 29 December 2024 – 3pm |
| Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU |
PREVIOUS MEETING
| 07/01/2023 – Almost two years has passed since the Saints came to South London and they returned to the South Coast with all three points thanks to goals from James Ward-Prowse and Adam Armstrong after Odsonne Edouard gave the Eagles an early lead. |
| WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Wilfried Zaha (7.6) |
MATCH OFFICIALS
| Referee | Michael Salisbury |
| Assistant | Scott Ledger |
| Assistant | Derek Eaton |
| Fourth Official | Darren Bond |
| VAR | Graham Scott |
| Assistant VAR | Akil Howson |
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Matheus Franca, Adam Wharton, Franco Umeh, and Rob Holding are all expected to remain unavailable. Will Hughes will be assessed after a knock against Bournemouth while Chadi Riad is closing in on a return. Marc Guehi will be suspended after accumulating 5 bookings.
SAINTS – Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart, Jack Stephens, William Smallbone, and Maxwel Cornet are all unlikely to feature.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
This is the section of our match preview that highlights those that have not been the best of friends with match officials as the season goes on. Of course, they all begin with a clean slate, but we will start to see those that will be heading for a ban or two as the campaign progresses.
| RED CARDS – Jack Stephens (2), Daichi Kamada (1), Ryan Fraser (1) |
| YELLOW CARDS (over 4.5) – Flynn Downes (7), Will Hughes (6), Daniel Munoz (5), Marc Guehi (5), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (5), Tyler Dibling (5) |
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
| 15/04/2023 | Saints 0-2 Palace |
| 07/01/2023 | Palace 1-2 Saints |
| 29/10/2022 | Palace 1-0 Saints |
| 30/04/2022 | Saints 1-2 Palace |
| 15/12/2021 | Palace 2-2 Saints |
Last FIVE results for Palace:
| 26/12/2024 | Bournemouth 0-0 Palace |
| 21/12/2024 | Palace 1-5 Arsenal |
| 18/12/2024 | Arsenal 3-2 Palace |
| 15/12/2024 | Brighton 1-3 Palace |
| 07/12/2024 | Palace 2-2 Manchester City |
Last FIVE results for Southampton;
| 26/12/2024 | Saints 0-1 West Ham |
| 22/12/2024 | Fulham 0-0 Saints |
| 18/12/2024 | Saints 1-2 Liverpool |
| 15/12/2024 | Saints 0-5 Saints |
| 07/12/2024 | Villa 1-0 Saints |
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 16th in the Premier League with 17 points from 18 games played, while Southampton are 20th with 6 points from the same games played.
RECORD AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON
| Played | 97 |
| Won | 33 |
| Drawn | 19 |
| Lost | 45 |
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
This is the section of our match preview where we list two players from each side that are top of the ratings by our friends over at Who Scored. Obviously, there are no ratings to share at the moment but that will soon change!
| Daniel Munoz | 7.00 |
| Ebere Eze | 7.00 |
| Mateus Fernandes | 6.65 |
| Aaron Ramsdale | 6.59 |
ONE TO WATCH
| MATEUS FERNANDES |
| FORMER CLUBS – Olhanense, Sporting CP, Estoril (loan) |
| The Portuguese midfielder has been the one highlight from a disappointing return to the Premier League so far this season for the Saints. He joined the club in August on a five year contract. |
THE NUMBERS
Palace can equal their longest league winning streak against Southampton of 4 matches, set in 1991.
Palace won both Premier League meetings without conceding a goal during Southampton’s last top-flight season in 2022-23, triumphing 1-0 at home and 2-0 away. However, Saints have won 6 Premier League fixtures at Selhurst Park, second only to their 7 victories at Villa Park.
Palace have lost just once in seven Premier League games (W2, D4). However, they could lose consecutive top-flight home matches for the first time in a year.
Palace have been defeated in only one of their last 13 Premier League home fixtures against promoted sides, 3-0 against Fulham in December 2022. They are attempting to win their final league game in 4 consecutive calendar years for the first time since 1963.
Palace have been involved in 36 goalless draws in the Premier League since returning in 2013-14, the joint most of any side, along with Everton.
Ismaila Sarr has scored 3 and set up one of Palace’s last 4 Premier League goals.
KEY CLASH
| ISMAILA SARR v TAYLOR HARWOOD-BELLIS |
| The Senegalese Palace man has hot some real form and shown exactly why Palace had been after him for some time before he joined the club in the summer. He will be looking to his goal tally having been a real threat going forward in recent weeks and will be up against a defender who scored on his debut for England against the Republic of Ireland recently. |
PRE-MATCH STATS
This is the section of our match preview where we keep a tally on the statistics for Palace players as the campaign continues and how they compare to other Premier League players.
| Goals | Jean-Philippe MATETA, Ismaila SARR 4 (32nd) |
| Assists | Tyrick MITCHELL 3 (23rd) |
| Passes | Marc GUEHI 946 (22nd) |
| Tackles | Daniel MUNOZ 62 (1st) |
| Touches | Marc GUEHI 1193 (20th) |
| Shots | Ebere EZE 47 (10th) |
| Fouls | Will HUGHES 29 (10th) |
| Dispossessed | Jean-Philippe MATETA 21 (40th) |
| Saves | Dean HENDERSON 55 (5th) |
| Clearances | Marc GUEHI 86 (6th) |
| Big Chances Missed | Jean-Philippe MATETA 9 (6th) |
TEB PREDICTION
There are doubts over Will Hughes and with Marc Guehi suspended for this fixture, the loss off both will be a blow but Oliver Glasner will be looking to sign off 2024 with victory at Selhurst Park. The opposition do have a new manager in charge and will be a difficult opponent for that reason but they are languishing in the league at the moment, and we think Palace will have a little bit too much for them to contend with.
| PREDICTED SCORE: 2-0 to Palace |
