Bournemouth-Crystal Palace is a match valid for the eighteenth day of the Premier League and is played on Saturday at 16:00: predictions, TV, streaming.
The relegation nightmare, for now, does not disturb the sleep of neither the newly promoted Bournemouth nor Crystal Palace, both out of the red zone. But the table remains very short at the bottom of the Premier League, so it could take just a couple of slips to suddenly find themselves in one of the bottom three places.
Both Cherries and Eagles, meanwhile, lost their first league game after the long break for the Qatari World Cup. On Tuesday, Bournemouth had to pull off a half-hearted feat to take points away from Stamford Bridge against a Chelsea eager for redemption and defeat came on time (2-0) at the London venue. It was a similar performance to the one the Rossoneri had offered a few days earlier in Newcastle in the League Cup: in that case too, Gary O’Neil’s men – by the way, the coach was officially confirmed after acting as ‘ferryman’ for a few games – had run out of goals, surrendering 1-0 to the Magpies and being eliminated from the national cup. Bournemouth have lost five of their last six league games but still boast a sizeable margin over third-last place, three points behind.
Crystal Palace are stuttering
A far more complex situation at home to Palace. On Boxing Day, the Patrick Vieira-led team suffered a humiliating 0-3 defeat in the London derby against Fulham, who dominated at Selhurst Park by outnumbering the Eagles by nine.
Zaha and Edouard
Thereby extending the negative streak of Zaha and his teammates, who, before Qatar 2022, had stumbled over another newcomer, Nottingham Forest. It was supposed to be a chance to pick up points ahead of a stressful tour de force – Crystal Palace will face Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United in the coming days – and now the risk is that the Londoners will find themselves on the fringes of the relegation zone in January.
The Prediction
There is no doubt that a defeat could be detrimental to both after the Boxing Day results. In their last home match Bournemouth had thrashed Everton by three goals, while in their penultimate match they managed to pierce the Tottenham defence twice. They should also score at least one against a Crystal Palace in a waning phase, who have only collected six points in seven away matches so far. A draw cannot be ruled out in the Vitality Stadium clash.
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace matchday squad
- BOURNEMOUTH (4-3-3): Travers; Smith, Senesi, Kelly, Zemura; Cook, Lerma, Billing; Christie, Solanke, Anthony.
- CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Guaita; Clyne, Anderson, Guéhi, Ward; Olise, Doucouré, Schlupp; Eze, Edouard, Zaha.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
