Crystal Palace v Liverpool preview: Wilfried Zaha a doubt for hosts

Watch live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am on Saturday

Image: Crystal Palace v Liverpool is live on Sky Sports from 11.30am on Saturday

Crystal Palace hope to have Wilfried Zaha available for their Premier League clash at home to Liverpool on Saturday, live on Sky Sports PL from 11.30am.

Palace have lost all 10 of their Premier League matches this season without Zaha in the starting line-up.

But the winger is a doubt with a knee injury and Palace are set to make a decision on his involvement on Friday.

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson revealed Wilfried Zaha has not trained fully and is a doubt to feature against Liverpool

"We've had to be very cautious after the Huddersfield game as he came back from injury much earlier than he should have done," said manager Roy Hodgson.

Palace boosted their survival hopes with a 2-0 win at Huddersfield last time out. However, they are still only two points above the relegation zone with seven games left to play.

Advertisement

Liverpool are third in the table and could move up a place with victory as Manchester United are not in action until Saturday afternoon.

PL Prediction Show podcast

Listen to the Premier League Prediction Show podcast with Max Rushden and Paul Merson

They beat Watford 5-0 in their last match before the international break and have the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City to look forward to next Tuesday.

Also See:

Team news

Jeffrey Schlupp is out for Palace due to an ankle injury while Hodgson will check on Zaha, James Tomkins and Alexander Sorloth (hamstring).

Doubts also persist around Mamadou Sakho (calf) but Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Jason Puncheon, Bakary Sako and Connor Wickham - who this week suffered a minor groin injury - remain long-term absentees.

Image: Emre Can is unavailable for Liverpool

Liverpool will be without midfielder Emre Can (back) and defender Joe Gomez (ankle).

Dominic Solanke and Andy Robertson should be available despite suffering minor issues while representing their countries. Nathaniel Clyne could also return to the squad.

Opta stats

Since a 3-1 win in the Premier League in November 2014, Crystal Palace have lost each of their last three home meetings with Liverpool in all competitions.

The Reds haven't completed a Premier League double over Palace since the 1997-98 campaign when they were managed by Roy Evans.

Christian Benteke says he will use his omission from Belgium's squad as extra motivation in Crystal Palace's survival efforts

The Eagles have conceded the first goal in 20 different Premier League games this season, more than any other side. However, they've come back to gain 12 points from these games (W3 D3 L14) - only Bournemouth (15) and Everton (13) have gained more.

Christian Benteke has scored six goals in eight Premier League appearances against Liverpool, only three fewer than he managed in 29 league games for the Reds in the 2015-16 season.

Watch a preview of Saturday's Premier League games including Crystal Palace v Liverpool

This will be Jurgen Klopp's 100th Premier League game as a manager (W53 D28 L18); Klopp's 99 games so far have seen 322 goals (F206 A116) - only Manuel Pellegrini's first 100 games in the competition saw more (329).

Roy Hodgson has won three of his last five Premier League encounters with Liverpool (D1 L1), winning the most recent game 1-0 at Anfield as West Brom manager in April 2012.

Merson's prediction

Mo Salah - that is it. I just don't know how you stop him because for me, he is the best in the world without the ball and when he has got it, he's very good as well so I just don't know how Crystal Palace can stop him. They had a great result last time out, they needed to win against Huddersfield and with Wilfried Zaha back, they look like a better team but at the back, I just don't think they'll be able to cope with Liverpool. They will win this game quite easily.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (10/1 with Sky Bet)

Could you win the next Super 6 jackpot?

There's a triple header of Super 6 over the Easter weekend. Enter your predictions here.

Outbrain