The business end of the season starts for Crystal Palace as they host Leicester City at the start of a series of must-win Premier League games.
Palace are still without a league win in 2023, but Saturday (April 1) sees the return of Roy Hodgson to the manager’s chair, two years after he was replaced by Patrick Vieira.
The Eagles are sweating on the fitness of Joachim Andersen, who was forced to miss Denmark’s internationals through injury. They will hope the time off will have been enough for him to recover.
Roy’s team selection will be fascinating as many of his last starting 11 are still at the club. Whether he sticks with what he knows or takes a punt on those he knows less about remains to be seen.
The manger-less Eagles lost their last game before the break to league leaders Arsenal, but will be buoyed by the fact that eight of their last ten games are against teams currently below them in the league, including six in a row starting on Saturday.
The margin for error in this relegation battle is minuscule, however, with just four points separating Palace in 12th and Southampton in 20th.
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Leicester are a point above the drop zone in 17th place and prior to getting a point against Brentford in their last game before the international break, they had lost four games in a row.
James Maddison, fresh from his first start in an England shirt against Ukraine, will be the key man for the Foxes and has the ability to control a game like this.
From now until the end of the season, any time two teams from the bottom nine face off against each other, it is instantly the cliche of a ‘six-pointer'. This game is no different and Hodgson has been dumped head-first into a high-stakes relegation clash.
Predicted starting line-up (4-3-3):
Goalkeeper: Guaita
Defenders: Clyne, Tomkins, Guehi, Mitchell
Midfielders: Doucoure, Lokonga, Luka Milivojević
Forwards: Olise, Edouard, Zaha
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