Saturday 28th November Kickoff: 1500hrs
Crystal Palace v Newcastle United
Football – England – Premier League
Saturday’s meeting between Crystal Palace and Newcastle will be the second time Alan Pardew has faced the Magpies since moving to Selhurst Park at the end of last year. The first game, back in February, ended in a 1-1 draw but both sides could very much do with getting all three points here as the visitors attempt to move further away from the relegation zone, whilst Palace will be looking to recover from a disappointing defeat at home to Sunderland on Monday.
The 1-0 loss against Sam Allardyce’s men was Palace’s fourth defeat at home already this season. Pardew’s men have been given great credit for their away performances in the first part of this campaign, but they cannot hide from the fact that they have struggled for wins in front of their own fans. The defeat also means it’s now just one win in their last five Premier League games which has seen them drop down the table, narrowly holding on to 10th by virtue of goal difference. The Eagles can still be pleased with their overall start but the manager will also know that they cannot afford to continue this poor run for much longer.
Newcastle’s struggles have been well documented for the last couple of seasons so it’s no real surprise to see them languishing in 17th position with just 10 points from their first 13 games. Steve McLaren was appointed manager at St James’ Park in the summer but he’s yet or have the impact that the owners and supporters would have wished. Just two wins from their opening games mean the Geordies sit only a point above the bottom three and come into this game against Palace on the back of a rather comprehensive 3-0 home defeat to Leicester last weekend. It was a very feeble performance and one that indicated it could well be another long and disappointing season for Newcastle.
Although Palace have a lot of pace, width and attacking options in their team, they so often find it difficult to score goals and that’s becoming more and more of an issue. Yannick Bolasie and Wilfred Zaha have been extremely effective at times in 2015, particularly away from home, whilst the signing of Yohan Cabaye looked to have brought in some much needed creativity in the middle of the park, but all three have been nullified in recent weeks. Nearly all of their forward play goes through that trio and when opposition teams do frustrate them, there is very little elsewhere in this Palace team to score goals.
Newcastle also struggle in front of goals and have managed to score more than a goal in just three of their 13 Premier League games this season. They did have a red-letter day against Norwich last month when hitting six, but that is very much the exception rather than the norm. Georginio Wijnaldum – the big summer signing from PSV – scored four that day but he’s only scored in two other games this term, whilst the other big summer signing – Aleksandar Mitrovic – has scored twice. For the money that was spent on the pair, they really have to contribute more in the coming weeks.
Crystal Palace v Newcastle United Betting Tips
There are a couple of side stories to this game, of course, with Pardew facing his old club – a club who’s supporters were extremely critical towards him – whilst Cabaye will also face Newcastle for the first time since leaving for PSG a couple of years ago. Both manager and player will be desperate for the three points for that reason, but also to stem Crystal Palace’s halt down the table. They looked devoid of ideas against Sunderland on Monday and I can see another North East club looking to play in a similar way, tomorrow.
Newcastle won their last away game, beating Bournemouth 1-0, but that was their only away win this season – losing five and drawing the other. They have failed to score in four of those games and it’s difficult to see how that changes drastically ahead of this one.
It’s fair to say neither of these two are in sparkling form and their desire for points should mean this is attritional more than anything else. There has only been 14 goals scored at Selhurst Park this season whilst Newcastle’s away games are averaging bang on 2.5 goals. I think this is a game that screams few goals and was very surprised to see the under 2.5 goals at odds against. It’s a bet that would have been a winner in four of Palace’s seven home games and the same number of Newcastle’s away games. I think it has a great chance of landing here once again.
Under 2.5 goals @ 21/20 @ Betfair
