Crystal Palace will travel to Vitality Stadium to face AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday night (2 April).
The Eagles have made a decent start under Oliver Glasner and should be looking to pick up their second win under their new manager.
Palace have drawn their previous two games against Nottingham Forest and Luton Town, and they will be looking to return to winning ways against the Cherries. In both these games, the Eagles took an early lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta and conceded in the second half.
Chris Sutton has suggested that Palace are a team in transition and they are heavily reliant on Eberechi Eze for creativity. In contrast, Bournemouth are in fantastic form at the moment, having picked up three wins and a draw in their previous four games.
The BBC pundit thinks that the Cherries will edge it, and has predicted a 2-1 win for them.
What Sutton has said about AFC Bournemouth v Crystal Palace
Sutton said: “These two teams are next to each other in the table in 13th and 14th but the difference is Bournemouth are eight points ahead and looking up the table, while Crystal Palace are still looking over their shoulder at the teams below them.
“Palace should be fine in terms of staying up, but they are a team in transition and are too reliant on Eberechi Eze for creativity.
“This is going to be close but Dominic Solanke is still scoring and the Cherries are on a good run of results. They have really surprised me this campaign, especially after the way they started it.
“I reckon Bournemouth will edge it but I should probably apologise to their fans now for saying that because whenever I back them, they never end up winning.”
Crystal Palace should plan for future ahead
The Eagles are 14th in the league table with 30 points from 29 games, eight points behind Bournemouth. This game presents a good opportunity for them to close the gap with the Cherries, although it won’t be easy.
This has been a poor campaign for the Eagles, with injuries to key players hampering their progress. They have lost key players like Eze, Michael Olise, Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucoure at various points this season, and now first-choice keeper Sam Johnstone is also out for the rest of the season.
The Eagles are heading in a new direction under Glasner who needs more time to stamp his authority. At the moment, it looks like Palace will comfortably avoid the drop, and the club must start planning for the summer transfer window.
While Glasner would love to keep hold of all his star players, there is a possibility that the club might have to sell some of them, especially if the price is right. Eze and Mateta have been in superb form recently, and Palace will hope the duo can fire them to an important victory here.
In other news, Crystal Palace are leading the race to sign 24-year-old Premier League defender.
