Can Southampton Grab Fifth With Palace Victory?

Southampton will be looking make a move to reclaim their place in the top four following their unceremonious 1-0 defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion at the weekend. In tomorrow`s 19:45 kick-off the Saints will host mid-table Crystal Palace and look to put pressure on their fellow Champions League hopefuls.

The Hampshire club currently sit in sixth following their Baggies loss though will move into fifth position with a victory. Fifth placed Liverpool face strugglers Burnley on Wednesday. By moving into fifth, Ronald Koeman`s side would move to within one point of the top four and keep up the traction on Manchester United and Arsenal, the two teams that they are most likely to catch.

Twelfth placed Crystal Palace could drop a place should they lose and West Brom manage to earn themselves a point or more away at Aston Villa. Alan Pardew`s Palace won`t be able to move up to 11th even with a victory but will close the gap on Newcastle to two points.

The two sides have met twice already this season, toughing it out at Selhurst Park in the Premier League before meeting at St. Mary`s in their FA Cup fourth round clash. The former saw the Saints run out the 3-1 winners over Palace who were under the stewardship of then manager Neil Warnock.

Sadio Mane scored the only goal of the first half in this fixture before Ryan Bertrand doubled Koeman`s men`s advantage just eight minutes following the restart. Toby Alderweireld made it three with over half an hour still to play whilst Scott Dann hit a consolation goal just minutes from time.

Betvictor`s 17/1 says that the Saints will be able to secure this reverse fixture 3-1 once again whilst Mane is 11/2 with most bookmakers to grab the opener.

Alan Pardew was in charge of Palace as they headed to St Mary`s in the FA Cup, the visitors avoiding a second straight defeat against Southampton and bagging themselves a 3-2 victory.

Both Graziano Pelle and Marouane Chamakh grabbed goals in the opening 15 minutes to see the game at 1-1 before a Scott Dann own-goal quickly restored the Saints` lead. On-loan Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo got the Eagles back on level terms five minutes later as Chamakh completed his brace to seal his club`s progression through to the fifth round in the first 45.

A 3-2 Palace win can be picked up at 75/1 at Betvictor with 11/5 (Numerous) the price on the first 45 being the highest scoring half. Moroccan Chamakh should still be unavailable following surgery on his broken nose.

In spite of this solid FA Cup showing, it is Southampton who are the odds-on favourites to do the league double over their London opponents. A number of turf accounts have the best price on the sixth placed side at 3/4. Crystal Palace are available at odds of 19/4 with both Betvictor and boylesports. Fourteen-to-five (Numerous) says the match will end tied.

Southampton`s favouritism comes in spite of the St Mary`s outfit having failed to score in all of their last three games. The Saints have also not scored in their last three home matches. Despite this, an Eagles clean sheet looks unlikely with bet365, betfair and Spreadex all having 7/2 on Palace not conceding.

Could former Palace scorer Mane, who also bagged goals against Arsenal (2-0) and Chelsea (1-1) be the best chance of ending these runs? He can be backed at 21/10 (Numerous) to hit the back of the net at any time. Palace are undefeated on the road under Pardew and have won three of the five victories earned on the road by a margin of one goal. Six-to-one (Numerous) is the price should you think that the Eagles will grab the result by one goal tomorrow.

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02/03/2015     © Frixo 2024