Crystal Palace v Newcastle preview: Connor Wickham set to start for Magpies visit

Crystal Palace face a shortage of strikers as they prepare to play Newcastle at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday.

Manager Alan Pardew insists his club have the resources to cope after Bakary Sako picked up a hamstring injury, but the Eagles are expected to be down to the bare bones for the visit of Steve McClaren's side.

Both sides are aiming to recover from disappointing defeats last weekend - Palace went down to a late Jermain Defoe strike on Monday Night Football while a Jamie Vardy-inspired Leicester saw off Newcastle 3-0 at St James' Park.

McClaren was reportedly involved in a training ground row with captain Fabricio Coloccini following the Leicester defeat, the club's seventh of the season so far, and they find themselves just one point clear of the relegation zone.

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Team news

Pardew will be without Sako and Dwight Gayle as both are suffering with hamstring injuries.

In their absence, and amid Pardew's caution surrounding Marouane Chamakh, who is still recovering his match fitness following an abductor problem, Connor Wickham is again expected to start.

Jack Colback could return to the Newcastle squad after recovering from a knee injury.

The midfielder has not been involved since the derby defeat to Sunderland in October, but is back in training and available for selection, as is goalkeeper Karl Darlow (ankle).

However, Cheick Tiote (groin) is out and Massadio Haidara is due to undergo surgery to repair a knee cartilage problem and will be sidelined for four months, joining Tim Krul (knee ligaments), Steven Taylor (hamstring), midfielders Gabriel Obertan (hamstring) and Rolando Aarons (foot) and Emmanuel Riviere (knee) on the casualty list.

Opta stats

Newcastle's 1-0 win at Bournemouth ended a run of 12 away league games without a win (D2 L10), but the Magpies have only scored three goals in their last 12 road trips.

Pardew joined Palace shortly after leaving Newcastle in December 2014. He won 37 per cent of league games as boss of the Magpies. Since he left, they have won 16 per cent.

Papiss Cisse has scored in both of his league outings against Palace, but Newcastle have failed to hit the net in seven of their league matches this season, more than any other team in the top flight.

20 of the 27 goals in league games involving Palace this season have come in the second half (74 per cent).

Wilfried Zaha has embarked on a league-high 95 dribbles, at an average of one every eight minutes, 49 seconds.

Georginio Wijnaldum has been directly involved in eight of the club's 13 top flight goals (six goals, two assists), equating to 62 per cent of the Magpies' total haul.

Merson's prediction

Newcastle would rather be playing Palace at Selhurst than at St James', I think they can go and sit 10 behind the ball here.

But with everything that is going on at the moment, I want to see a reaction from the players on Saturday.

If he's lost the players, they'll get beat here easily. If he has lost them, he's in a lot of trouble. In this day and age, the players always win.

Sunderland went to Palace and did a job, and I thought they were quite comfortable. Newcastle could do that, but this is one of those predictions where I'd like to tell you what the score will be after seeing the first 10 minutes.

If they dig in from the off, defend as a team, they have a chance. But if they don't and play anything like they did against Leicester this could be a silly score.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)

Betting

Palace are odds-on with Sky Bet to bounce back immediately from their home defeat with victory over 18/5 shots Newcastle. The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in the corresponding fixture last season and it's 11/2 for a repeat of that outcome.

In fact, the Toon are unbeaten in their last three visits to Selhurst Park and are even money to win or draw in the Double Chance market.

Wickham is a 4/1 favourite to open the scoring for the hosts despite his failure to net since joining in the summer, with Georginio Wijnaldum 100/30 to score anytime for the visitors.

Check out the Sky Bet tips from pundits Jamie Redknapp, Charlie Nicholas, Matt Le Tissier and Phil Thompson here.