Talking of which, have we sold our allocation I wonder? Should be a cracking atmosphere, they make a bit of noise do Palace. Hopefully we'll have more to sing about than them.
I hate it when we play a team that most people think we'll win easily because we are a 'good' side and they are 'shocking'. I keep thinking about Hull City.
That was an aberration. Claude won't allow it to happen again. Palace are a better side than Hull anyway. Which is good, because we are unlikely to fall asleep whilst in cruise control.
I'm hoping we can use that performance & result the rest of the season. Could be the best 3 points we've ever dropped!
To me, a win today will set us on the right path, but it doesn't have the frisson of the last one...where we needed to break our run without a win and beat Everton. That win has brought this one down a small notch, but it is a game we should win and confirm our status when heading towards the Europa game and the end of the year. The team need to be told that the fans are going to be given the chance to give them a right kicking if they lose. That should buck their ideas up.
I'm going to revise my prediction: 4-0 Saints! Would be the second time Pardew has been sacked after a 4-0 away win for Saints
We've been ****e defending free kicks recently so I fear for the moment Benteke peels away to the far post to isolate little Cedric as nobody does anything to remotely resemble defending. Still confident of a win. 2-1 with Fonte scoring from a corner in the second half. Austin in the first half.
If we win (by a few goals) and WBA and Watford draw, we will be 6th until Man U beat Everton tomorrow (see what I did there ). At worst we will be 7th. I find it amazing that we are so close to 6th and ManU when (I think we can all agree) this hasn't been a great season for us so far. A win today and we are still in the mix.
The difference this season is that the top 4 have pulled away by quite a few points...there were periods last season when we had hopes of 4th.
Pretty confident. Probably shouldn't say that, but their defending must be atrocious to concede 5 to Swansea. Even our misfiring forwards should be able to find the net against this lot. Obviously they are a threat going forward, so we'll need our usual defensive excellence. Not even bothered what team Claude puts out or who he rests; we've clearly mastered squad rotation, and we have a strong squad. Don't let me down Saints, I came all the way from North London for this
Team is very strong which is a bit worrying. I was hoping a few would be rested for the much bigger game on Thursday. Bertrand, Boufal and VVD will have to play 3 games in 8 days if they play Thursday. Not sure Charlie Austin is up for playing both saturday/thursday either. Let's hope Puel has got it right and we win both!