England Premier League
Saturday 20th June 2020
Kick off at 7.45pm BST
Venue: Vitality Stadium
Match Preview:
Saturday’s evening game will see 18th placed Bournemouth take on 11th placed Crystal Palace.
Bournemouth have lost 16 games this season and if they were to go down could they really have any complaints? Before the break they had gone on a 4 game run without a win including 3 defeats and their last win in the Premier League came against Aston Villa at the beginning of February.
Whilst Eddie Howe’s side have only won 4 games at home this season they have remained undefeated here for their last 3 games.
Crystal Palace will be safe this year and have 39 points, for that the campaign has been a successful one for Roy Hodgson’s team. The break possibly came at an unfortunate time for the Eagles who were on a 3 game winning run. Those wins came against Newcastle, Brighton and Watford and all finished with the same score line of 1-0. Indeed when it comes to scoring goals Palace have really struggled and they have netted just 26 times this season, only Newcastle and Norwich have a worse record.
However considering Palace’s position they have done well in defence conceding only 32, which is actually the 6th tightest defence in the league. The club have won 4 times away from home with almost 50% of their points coming this way.
Team News:
Bournemouth: Philip Billing has an ankle injury but could play as it is thought to be minor.
Crystal Palace: Cenk Tosun has returned to his parent club after suffering a knee injury and he could well be out for the remainder of the season.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace Head to Head:
Earlier in the season in the reverse game Crystal Palace beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Crystal Palace have at least scored 1 goal when playing Bournemouth for 8 straight games.
In last season’s fixture Bournemouth won 2-1.
4 from the last 5 meetings has seen both teams to score.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace Prediction:
We expect to see a close game. Palace will be happy that the league has restarted and it is very possible now being safe that Roy Hodgson may chop and change some of his team or give youngsters a chance from the bench. Palace would like a few more wins of course, but they have the quality to pick up some points and will be the calmer of the two teams who will just be able to play their football.
The same can’t be said of Bournemouth who will have to be 110% to get something from the game, they don’t even have fans to cheer them on and the worst thing that could happen would be going a goal down. This fixture in that sense could well remind us of a mid table clash in Germany where apart from the big teams other home sides have really struggled to get a win playing in their own stadium. Palace will not want to be too laid back, but there will only be one team in desperate need for the points in this game.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace Betting Tips:
Half Time: A draw at 2.00
Under 2.5 goals at 1.72
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