Two teams aiming to build on eye-catching midweek wins in the Premier League face off at Selhurst Park on Saturday, as Crystal Palace take on Burnley.
The Eagles ran out 4-1 winners at Watford on Wednesday evening, while Sean Dyche's side took another step towards survival by beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0.
Match preview
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Watford had begun to showcase an admirable sense of defensive resolve under Roy Hodgson, but Palace paid no attention to the Hornets' improved resilience as they ran riot at Vicarage Road to humble their London counterparts in a 4-1 romping.
Conor Gallagher unsurprisingly returned to the starting XI with a bang to record his eighth goal of the season after Moussa Sissoko and Jean-Philippe Mateta's efforts, and a well-taken second-half brace from Wilfried Zaha wrapped up the three points in emphatic fashion.
Hopes were not high across the entire Eagles fanbase before Wednesday's game given their side's six-game winless run in the Premier League, but Palace have now jumped to 11th in the table after the midweek win - three behind Southampton having played a game more.
Maintaining their mid-table standing will be the minimum for Patrick Vieira as the season enters its business end, but produce showings as clinical as they did at Vicarage Road and a top-half finish is certainly not out of the question.
However, Crystal Palace welcome Burnley to Selhurst Park having lost their last three in the league at home - albeit against West Ham United, Chelsea and Liverpool - and Dyche's side have started to turn heads in the past couple of weeks.
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Under pressure to prove that their 3-0 drubbing of Brighton & Hove Albion on the South Coast was no fluke, Burnley demonstrated a solidarity typical of that in Dyche's previous seasons to prevent Spurs' star-studded attack from finding the back of the net at Turf Moor.
Nick Pope remained largely untroubled apart from Harry Kane rattling the woodwork, and Mee rose highest over Cristian Romero to meet Josh Brownhill's ball and head home the game's only goal with 19 minutes remaining.
Having managed to boost their survival hopes at the expense of Spurs' Champions League aspirations, Burnley ought to be grateful to Palace for doing them a favour at Watford, as the Clarets have now risen above Hodgson's side into 18th place.
Only two points now separate Burnley from their safety of 17th position - where Newcastle United have played a game more - but with only one win and 19 goals conceded away from home, the Clarets cannot expect to travel to Selhurst Park as favourites.
Two successive wins and clean sheets at least represents the best period of Burnley's season so far, and they are unbeaten in four against Crystal Palace after playing out a thrilling 3-3 draw with their upcoming hosts at Turf Moor back in November.
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Team News
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Crystal Palace did not pick up any fresh injury worries in the Watford win but still have concerns over Nathan Ferguson, Vicente Guaita and Joel Ward ahead of Saturday.
Guaita's knee injury kept him out of Wednesday's game entirely, so Jack Butland should be handed the gloves again as Nathaniel Clyne continues at right-back in place of Ward, who is yet to recover from a knock.
Having repaid Vieira's faith in him with the opening goal against Watford - albeit a deflected one - Mateta ought to keep Odsonne Edouard and Christian Benteke out of the team once more.
As for Burnley, James Tarkowski was fit enough to return to the backline against Tottenham, and fellow COVID-19 victim Ashley Westwood could also return to the squad here.
Dyche is also sweating over the fitness of Maxwel Cornet after the Ivory Coast man's Achilles issue kept him out of Wednesday's win, while Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Matej Vydra remain out of action.
Charlie Taylor might be fit enough to return to the squad on Saturday, but Dyche is unlikely to consider many changes from the Spurs victory, unless Cornet is fit enough to displace Jay Rodriguez up front.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Butland; Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; McArthur, Kouyate, Gallagher; Olise, Mateta, Zaha
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Roberts, Mee, Tarkowski, Pieters; Lennon, Cork, Brownhill, McNeil; Weghorst, Cornet
We say: Crystal Palace 1-1 Burnley
Confidence could hardly be higher in the Burnley camp right now, but facing a Palace side with all the attacking options at Vieira's disposal will be a much more difficult test of their defensive mettle.
Palace will be desperate to give their fans something to cheer after three successive home defeats and had no trouble breaching Watford's formerly solid backline, but we still expect an inspired Burnley to take a point back to Lancashire.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Crystal Palace win with a probability of 51.29%. A draw had a probability of 25.1% and a win for Burnley had a probability of 23.58%.
The most likely scoreline for a Crystal Palace win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.06%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.58%) and 2-1 (9.48%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.93%), while for a Burnley win it was 0-1 (7.52%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-1 draw for this match.
