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NederlandBoth Crystal Palace and Burnley will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they lock horns at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.
Palace, who lost 2-0 at Leeds United on Monday night, occupy 13th position in the table, while Burnley currently sit 17th but are eight points above the relegation zone heading into the next set of fixtures.
Match preview
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Palace have won eight, drawn five and lost 10 of their 23 Premier League matches this season to sit 13th in the table, 14 points above the relegation zone and eight points off the top seven.
It is very difficult to imagine the Eagles being pulled into any sort of relegation battle in the latter stages of the campaign, but they have not shown enough consistency to push into the top half of the division, and it would not therefore be a surprise to see them finish in and around the position that they currently occupy.
Roy Hodgson's side had been on a difficult run before recording back-to-back wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United, but as mentioned, the capital club will enter Saturday's contest off the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Leeds at Elland Road.
Palace only have Premier League football to worry about between now and the end of the season, and they only actually have three more games before the end of the month, taking on Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham in their two matches after this one before starting March with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Eagles have won four of their last six Premier League games with Burnley but have lost the last two, including a 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Turf Moor back in November.
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Burnley, meanwhile, will enter Saturday's contest off the back of a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup; Sam Surridge and Junior Stanislas scored the goals for the Championship outfit as they marched into the quarter-finals of the competition.
Like Palace, the Clarets now only have Premier League matches between now and the end of the season, and they will be looking to return to winning ways on Saturday, having only picked up one point from their last three fixtures in England's top flight.
Sean Dyche's side collected six points from two games against Liverpool and Aston Villa towards the end of January but then suffered back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Manchester City before playing out a 1-1 draw with Brighton in the league last weekend.
Burnley have actually dropped into 17th position in the table due to their recent run, but the gap to 18th-placed Fulham is eight points on the same number of matches, showing that the current bottom three are being cut adrift at a key stage of the season.
Crystal Palace Premier League form: DLLWWL
Burnley Premier League form: LWWLLD
Burnley form (all competitions): WWLLDL
Team News
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Palace will again be without the services of Mamadou Sakho, Jeffrey Schlupp, Connor Wickham, James Tomkins, James McArthur, Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Ferguson and James McCarthy though injury, while Wilfried Zaha is also again unlikely to be involved due to a hamstring problem.
Palace have lost 18 of their last 23 Premier League matches without Zaha, which is an indication of the team's reliance on the attacker, who has netted nine times in the league this term.
Hodgson could shuffle his pack from the defeat at Leeds, with Andros Townsend and Cheikhou Kouyate both potentially coming into the XI, while Michy Batshuayi and Christian Benteke are options in attack.
January arrival Jean-Philippe Mateta should retain his spot in the final third of the field, though, and there are also likely to be spots for Tyrick Mitchell and Jairo Riedewald in the starting side.
As for Burnley, Dyche revealed during Thursday afternoon's press conference that Jack Cork and Nick Pope had both trained and are therefore in contention to start, while Josh Brownhill and Charlie Taylor are pushing to be involved from the start.
Chris Wood is still a doubt with a thigh problem, though, meaning that Jay Rodriguez could be given the nod alongside Ashley Barnes in the final third of the field.
There will be wholesale changes from the side that started against Bournemouth in the FA Cup, but Dwight McNeil and Johann Berg Gudmundsson should retain their spots in the wide areas.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Clyne, Kouyate, Cahill, Mitchell; Townsend, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Eze; Mateta, Ayew
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Barnes, Rodriguez
We say: Crystal Palace 1-1 Burnley
There has not actually been a Premier League draw between these two teams since September 2014, but we are finding it difficult to separate them here. Both managers will be wary of losing this fixture, which could create a tense and nervy affair at Selhurst Park.
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Video prediction
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