Next Friday, 26th of December 2014, Southampton, who seem to have recovered from the fairly negative period that swept the team early this month, will travel to London to measure forces with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park for round 18 of the English Premier League, on a match of the utmost importance for both the Saints, who to secured their position on the first half of the table, and for Crystal Palace, who have only won one of their last eleven EPL matches.

After five consecutive defeats, Southampton have finally returned to wins last Saturday when they entertained Everton at St. Mary’s Stadium. The Saints clinched a solid 3-0 win on a match where, contrary to what they usually do, they allowed the opposition to have more ball possession and an apparent control of the match. An own goal by Everton’s powerful forward Lukaku opened the door the a three-goal margin win, for which the usual suspects, Graziano Pelle and the Japanese midfielder Yoshida, also placed their names in the scoreboard. Thanks to this win, the Saints have somewhat managed to deflect the crisis’ scenario that had been hanging over the team after that unexpected row of defeats.

The Boxing Day match against Crystal Palace will definitely not be easy for the Saints and will pose an excellent test to the team’s morale levels that were most certainly pinched after five consecutive defeats. For that particular clash, Southampton’s manager, Ronald Koeman, is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of the Serbian playmaker Tadic and of Jay Rodriguez and Cork, all currently sidelined due to injury. On the other hand, he will surely be happy to rely on the contribution of Wanyama and Schneiderlin, who missed the weekend’s clash against Everton due to suspension.

As for Crystal Palace, this season is clearly being marked by inconsistency so far and the Eagles are dangerously close to the relegation zone at the moment. Last Saturday, Crystal Palace were smashed by the current English Premier League champions, Manchester City, at the Etihad Stadium, thus conceding the eighth defeat of the season. The 3-0 defeat was particularly painful for the Eagles since, besides losing the match, they changed places with QPR in the table and now have the exact same points of Burnley, who are third from bottom.

Although they are playing at home, Crystal Palace are far from being favourites for the Boxing Day’s match against Southampton, who have, by far, a much better organized team than the home side.

Crystal Palace

Stats: W-0 L-2 D-3

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Southampton

Stats: W-1 L-4 D-0

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Possible Line-ups

Crystal Palace (4-1-4-1) – Speroni - Ward - Dann - Hageland - Kelly - Jedinak - Zaha - Ledley - Bolasie - Puncheon- Campbell

Southampton (4-3-3) - Forster - Clyne - Fonte - Aldewereld - Bertrand - Wanyama - Schneiderlin - Ward-Prowse - Long - Mane - Pelle

Prediction

Crystal Palace 0 Southampton 1