Match pack: Crystal Palace (A)

Crystal Palace v AFC Bournemouth

Sunday 12 May

Premier League, 3pm

Selhurst Park

While Crystal Palace may have found points hard to come by at Selhurst Park this season, it has been a different story on their travels.

With one game remaining, the Eagles have the second worst home record in the Premier League, having taken 17 points from four wins and five draws.

It took until December for Roy Hodgson’s team to break their win duck at Selhurst Park with goals from James McArthur and Andros Townsend earning them a 2-0 victory over Burnley.

Ahead of hosting the Clarets, Palace were 15^th and just one point above the relegation zone, having picked up two wins from their first 13 league games, both on the road.

After lowering Leicester’s colours on home soil, their next win certainly grabbed the headlines with Palace becoming the only team to leave Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium with any points this season.

Despite taking the lead through Ilkay Gundogan, City’s fortress crumbled as the Eagles hit back through Jeffrey Schlupp, Townsend and a Luka Milivojevic penalty, their 3-2 triumph seeing them climb six points clear of danger.

Palace kicked off 2019 by winning 2-0 at Wolves thanks to a late goal from Jordan Ayew and Milivojevic’s last-minute penalty.

It was the first of six away victories with Palace also winning at Leicester (4-1), Burnley (3-1), Newcastle (1-0), Arsenal (3-2) and Cardiff (3-2).

Palace boast the fifth-best away record in the top flight, having collected 29 points from nine wins and two draws, including 19 points in 2019, a total bettered only by Manchester City.

Wilfried Zaha’s goal in the win at Cardiff saw him reach double figures for the first time in a season, while Milivojevic leads their scoring charts with 12.

On the difference between home and away form, Hodgson said: “Away from home, it’s been different. We’ve taken our chances much better, scored some very good goals and games have opened up more.

“Teams have shown respect to us this year and don’t leave many gaps. We still believe Selhurst Park is an excellent ground to have as a home ground and I hope next season we get as many home points as we manage to get away.”

LAST TIME OUT

Cardiff City 2-3 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace maintained their impressive away form in the Premier League and finally condemned Cardiff City to relegation.

Former Bluebirds loan star Wilfried Zaha (pictured above) drew first blood for the Eagles before Martin Kelly turned a Leandro Bacuna cross into his own net to level.

Michy Batshuayi applied an emphatic finish to a fluent passing move as the visitors regained the lead and Andros Townsend added a third.

Although Bobby Reid reduced the deficit in the last minute, Cardiff were ultimately well beaten by a confident Palace outfit as they brought up a hat-trick of wins on the road.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson said: “It was a clinical performance. It was an exciting game, although I thought we spurned quite a few chances which the quality of our play had managed to produce.

“Cardiff were never out of it and there was always that risk that they would get a strike away and score, as we saw at the end of the game. There had been two or three warnings of that goal coming before he actually scored.

"I have to say that over the 90 minutes, our performance, our creation of really good goalscoring opportunities and the way we went about our business as well were really good..

“When you play these games, you're playing a team that is going to be fighting to the death. Cardiff have fought very hard in every game throughout the season. 

"We knew they would give us nothing and that we'd have to work hard and fight for every opportunity to come our way. I must congratulate the players for that, because I thought we matched them very much in that area as well as showing the necessary quality when we were on the ball."

2018-19 TOP SCORER

Luka Milivojevic – 12 goals in all competitions

MANAGER

Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson (pictured above) has managed four countries and 16 clubs during a distinguished career which started in 1976.

As a player, he progressed through the youth ranks at Crystal Palace before dropping into non-league with Tonbridge, Gravesend & Northfleet, Maidstone United, Ashford Town, Berea Park in South Africa and Carshalton Athletic.

He started his management career at Halmstads BK, winning the Swedish league title in 1976 and 1979, before having a brief spell in the hotseat at Bristol City.

Hodgson returned to Sweden and took charge of second-tier clubs IK Oddevold and Orebro SK before leading Malmo to five consecutive Allsvenskan titles and two Swedish Cup.

He moved to Switzerland in July 1990 and twice took Neuchatel Xamax into Europe before taking up the Swiss national team job at the start of 1992, guiding them to the 1994 World Cup and Euro 1996.

Two spells at Inter Milan sandwiched a period in charge at Blackburn Rovers before Hodgson coached Grasshoppers, Copenhagen and Udinese.

Between April 2002 and January 2004, Hodgson was United Arab Emirates manager and moved to Finland for their national job after a short spell with Viking in Norway.

In December 2007, Hodgson was appointed manager of Fulham and worked his magic to keep them up against all the odds. The following season, he guided them to seventh, their highest Premier League position.

Hodgson was crowned LMA manager of the year in 2010 after the Cottagers had reached the final of the Europa League before taking the reins at West Brom following a brief spell at Liverpool.

He succeeded Fabio Capello as England manager in May 2012 and led the national team at Euro 2012 and at the 2014 World Cup. His contract finished after the round of 16 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

In September 2017, Hodgson was appointed manager of his boyhood club and replaced Frank de Boer at Selhurst Park.

Palace’s 4-1 win at Leicester saw Hodgson, at the age of 71 years and 198 days, become the oldest man to manage in the Premier League.

KEY STATS

• Crystal Palace pipped the Cherries to 11^th place last season after finishing with a superior goal difference, both teams ending with 44 points.
• In two of their first three seasons in the Premier League, the Cherries finished with the same points total as Crystal Palace.
• The Cherries and the Eagles have met 71 times in the league – but never in a cup competition.
• Crystal Palace have won 29 away Premier League points this season – only Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs have won more.
• The Cherries are unbeaten in the Premier League at Selhurst Park, winning one and drawing two of their three fixtures.
• Nine of Wilfried Zaha’s 10 Premier League goals for Crystal Palace this season have been scored away from home. Only Jamie Vardy (10) and Harry Kane (11) have scored more away Premier League goals this season.
• The Cherries recorded their biggest win over Crystal Palace on the final day of the season when doubles from Ron Eyre and Harry Maidment and efforts from Jim Buchanan and Frank Stringfellow earned them a 6-1 victory in Division Three (South) in May 1926.
• Michy Batshuayi has ended on the winning side in all eight Premier League games in which he has found the net. Only Daniel Agger (nine) and Chris Smalling (11) have scored in more games with a 100 per cent record.
• The Cherries (nine) have scored more counter-attacking goals than any other club in the Premier League this season. They are one in front of Leicester, three ahead of Liverpool and four better than Tottenham, Wolves and Manchester City.