Premier League Preview: Crystal Palace
Written by ad_wilkin on Sunday, 1st Dec 2024 18:10
Crystal Palace look like they’re going to be one of Ipswich Town’s relegation rivals this season. Following a resurgence and a 10th place finish under Oliver Glasner last season, this capaign hasn’t quite gone to plan for the Eagles.
Star man Michael Olise was sold to Bayern Munich and it’s taken some of their new signings time to gel. They currently sit 17th with just nine points from 13 games. Like Town, their only league win of the season came against Tottenham Hotspur.
After two loan spells at Sheffield United and one at Town’s weekend opponents Nottingham Forest, Dean Henderson has finally found a permanent home away from Manchester United have failed to break into the team at Old Trafford. He’s started all 13 league games for Palace and is now a regular in the England squad.
His competition is USA international Matt Turner, who is on loan from Forest, so will be fully aware of the competition for places that he faces having played with Henderson in his time there.
The former Arsenal man started 17 games for the Reds last season but has had to settle for one Carabao Cup appearance so far this year for Palace.
Palace have operated with a 3-4-2-1 formation ever since Glasner took over. Central to that defence is England International Marc Guehi. Following on from an impressive Euro 2024, the 24-year-old has been an ever-present for Palace this season and is now club captain.
He’s made the sixth-most clearances in the league and is the out ball for the Palace defence with considerably more passes and carries than any of his counterparts in the backline.
With Guehi operating mainly on the left-hand side of that three, it’s been Maxence Lacroix who has been holding the central berth. The 24-year-old Frenchman joined from Wolfsburg in the summer and has looked to have adapted well to the Premier League in his 10 starts so far.
To the right of him is another summer signing in Trevoh Chalobah. The former Town loanee was loosely touted with a move back to Portman Road in the summer but opted to join the Eagles on loan instead. He had limited game time at Chelsea so he’ll be looking to use this spell to prove he can cut it at Premier League level.
That leaves the wing-back slots, which have been filled by Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz. Twenty-eight-year-old Colombian Munoz signed in January 2024 from KRC Genk and managed four assists in 16 games.
He has one so far this season but alongside Mitchell is crucial to how Palace win the ball back by pressing high down the wings. His 30 tackles won so far this season is the highest in the league. Fifteen of those tackles were attempted in the middle third, which shows how high he presses with only Fulham's Antonee Robinson attempting more in that area out of all defenders.
Against Newcastle on Saturday, he also showed his attacking threat, missing a great opportunity but making up for it with a superb back post header to secure a point for the Eagles.
A naturally left-footed left-back who can’t get an England cap. No, I'm not talking about Leif Davis, I'm talking about Tyrick Mitchell. The 25-year-old Londoner has even more of a case to feel hard done by than Davis about not getting an England call-up with 144 Premier League appearances under his belt having been a regular for Palace for the last three seasons.
Like Munoz, he presses high and provides the attacking width down the left-hand side. Unlike Davis though, his best attributes are more defensive with just two goals and three assists last season.
Twenty-four-year-old USA international Chris Richards and veteran Nathaniel Clyne have also played a few games each at centre-back, while 21-year-old Moroccan Chadi Riad, who signed from Real Betis over the summer, is one to watch out for in the future. He made his debut and one and only appearance so far this season in the 2-0 defeat to West Ham.
Rob Holding and Joel Ward provide more experience in the defensive unit but neither have player a Premier League minute so far.
There’s no real out and out wing-back cover but players like Jeffrey Schlupp and Jefferson Lerma could fill in there if needed.
With starlet Adam Wharton having chosen to have a mid-season operation on a groin injury rather than continuing to play through the pain, Crystal Palace only really have two options as holding midfielders in Cheick Doucoure and Will Hughes.
Twenty-four-year-old Mali international Doucoure has made 54 appearances for Palace over his two-and-a-bit years at the club. He missed a large chunk of last season through an achilles injury and is still working his way back to full fitness.
Hughes is one of those all-round midfielders. He burst onto the scene when he was at Derby and since moving to Watford and then Palace has been a consistent Premier League player with 160 appearances.
Other options in there are Lerma, the former Bournemouth player who is still working his way back to full fitness but did start against Newcastle, and new signing Daichi Kamada, who has dropped back in recent games, albeit he was signed as a number 10 to replace Olise.
Kamada joined in the summer from Lazio with big shoes to fill and hasn’t quite hit the mark so far. His goal output is the problem with him playing further forward with no goals or assists in 11 appearances so far, so maybe a deeper role is a good fit for him. He won’t be available for this one as he’ll be serving the last of a three-game ban for a straight red card against Fulham.
There’s also been the emergence of young Northern Irishman Justin Devenny, who could help fill the gap. He started in a deeper midfield role alongside Marc Guehi against Fulham but it was when he was pushed further forward against Aston Villa that he made a real impact, providing some width on the left and getting himself on the scoresheet.
We’ve already covered a few attacking options in the midfielders section because Palace operate with two tens that form a box midfield. Kamada and Devenny are both options there but Palace also have Ismaila Sarr, Eddie Nketiah and Eberichi Eze to slot into those positions as well.
Eze, who scored 11 goals last season, has been out since the end of October with a hamstring injury but made his return against Newcastle at the weekend. He’s without doubt Palace’s star player but could be struggling a bit more this season without Olise alongside him with just one goal from 3.01 xG.
Nketiah was a fairly big money signing in the summer at £25 million from Arsenal. He largely played as a centre-forward for the Gunners with a goal return of 38 in 168 appearances.
It surprised me when Palace signed him in the summer because he didn’t seem to fit their system. Glasner’s solution to that has been to use him as the right-sided number ten where he can cut inside onto his left foot. It’s not quite worked with his only goal having come against QPR in the Carabao Cup and his season has then been stunted by injury.
With those two having injury issues, it’s left the door open for Ismaila Sarr. The Senegalese international is back in the Premier League following a season in Ligue 1 with Marseille.
Previously he was at Watford where he impressed in two Premier League seasons sandwiching one in the Championship. He started the last five games and seems to be growing game by game thanks to that consistency. His performance against Aston Villa was the best yet with his pace and trickery seeing him score and assist in the 2-2 draw.
Palace also have 20-year-old Brazilian Matheus Franca in their squad, but he has been out with a long-term injury and 19-year-old Asher Agbinone has also been given a few minutes off the bench.
That just leaves the target man Jean Phillipe Mateta. The 27-year-old Frenchman was in the best goalscoring form of his career at the back end of last season with everything he touched turning to goals. He finished with 16 in 35 games.
He’s not been quite as unerring this season but still has three in 12 and is a big part of the way Palace play with his physical strength and presence to create knock downs and chances for the tens as well as getting on the end of crosses that both wing-backs like to put into the box.
With Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday games rotation will no doubt play a factor. Town have no suspension issues to deal with, Omari Hutchinson and Sam Morsy both sit on four cards a piece but Axel Tuanzebe was withdrawn against Forest with a hamstring injury so will likely miss this one. That will open the door once again to Harry Clarke, who will certainly be hoping things go his way a bit more than against Brentford.
The midfield selection will depend on fitness but I can’t see any changes there as the Morsy/Cajuste partnership continues to build.
Up front is where we're most likely to see switches and given Crystal Palace play with a back five which could leave gaps in between wing-back and centre-half, it could be a good game for Jack Clarke.
Liam Delap played the full 90 against Forest and is one who could be considered for a rest, possibly with Broadhead in a false nine but I think Delap will continue to start.
For Palace, there might not be too many changes, Lerma was swapped in to replace Doucoure against Newcastle and that could be switched back. Eze also returned from injury in that game and will be a big boost. He’ll need to be managed carefully but given the importance of this game I think he’ll start.
Good performances against Tottenham and Manchester United have been dampened a bit by a solid but by no means brilliant one against Nottingham Forest. The mini-league at the bottom is condensing again with Leicester and Everton being drawn back into the mix.
If you include West Ham in it as well, Town’s current record against the bottom six is played four, won none, drawn two and lost two. That has to improve if the Blues are to have any chance of surviving.
Town were impressive under the lights at Portman Road last season so let's hope that continues. 2-1 Town.
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