Stoke Host Crystal Palace In Mid-Table Battle

Premier League

Football
Published: 20/03/2015

Stoke City will host Crystal Palace tomorrow with both clubs enjoying the luxury of mid-table safety. The Potters currently sit in eighth position on 52 points, surely the best position that they can achieve at the end of the season. The West Midlands side are currently eight points behind Tottenham in seventh, a gap that seems insurmountable. Losing to Palace, on the other hand, could see Mark Hughes` men fall below Swansea in ninth, should the Whites be able to overcome Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Contrarily, Palace find themselves in 12th position, able to make further progress up the table should they manage to secure three points against Stoke away from home. The Eagles could potentially usurp Newcastle with a win and, by doing so, closing the gap on West Ham United to three points. Failure to win at the Britannia Stadium could see the London club fall two places into 14th.

The two sides met at Palace`s Selhurst Park back in December in what was this match`s reverse fixture. Neither club managed to seal the three points with the game ending in a 1-1 stalemate. James McArthur put the home club in front just after the ten minute mark, that lead not lasting so long with Peter Crouch levelling up just a matter of moments later. The second 45 remained goalless to see the spoils shared.

A correct score prediction of 1-1 would see winnings returned to the tune of 8/1 should you have placed your bet with betway. It`s 15/4 with both Betvictor and betway for the match to be a draw at both the end of the first half and the end of the second whilst McArthur is a 25/1 (betfair, Betvictor, Coral, paddy Power) shout to break the deadlock once again. It`s 6/1 (Betvictor, paddy Power, Stan James) should you think that Crouch will be the last goalscorer.

Stoke`s home advantage and superior league position means that it is they who are the favourites to win this encounter by any means necessary. Most bookmakers have the best price of 6/5 on a Potters home victory. In opposition, however, interested punters can back Palace at 29/10 for the win at Betvictor whilst a draw is available at the best price of 23/10 (Numerous).

Hughes` side are currently unbeaten in two Premier League games at home and have taken 10 points from their last five top tier games at the Britannia Stadium. Their last two victories in Stoke have ended as wins to nil, another tomorrow being price up at 12/5 (Betvictor).

Indeed, the hosts have scored in all of their last six games in the Premier League at home and could be good value at 13/8 (Coral) to score over 1.5 goals. Their average from these last five ties is just over 1.5 with their top scorer being Jonathan Walters who hit a hat-trick past QPR. Walters is a 25/1 (unibet) shot to score two or more goals tomorrow.

Crystal Palace have played four Premier League away games under new manager Alan Pardew and have racked up three wins and a loss from these ties. This streak of away wins ended with a 1-0 defeat away at Southampton last time on the road, that result also ending Palace`s run of scoring in every away game Pardew had managed them in. Regardless, the London club had scored seven goals in their previous three Premier League encounters on their travels and can be backed at 12/1 (Coral, Spreadex) to hit over 2.5 times tomorrow.

With two goals in their club`s last four Premier League away games, Dwight Gayle and Glenn Murray are the Eagles` top scorer in this period. They can both be backed at 10/3 (both ladbrokes) to hit the back of the net at any time against Stoke.

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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (20/03/2015) but are subject to change.

20/03/2015     © Frixo 2024

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