Wolves v Crystal Palace: Inside track on the Eagles

We spoke with James Howland, Author of The Palace Addiction books to get a better look at the side.

See what he had to say here...

It's FA Cup time, how seriously do you think Palace are taking the competition this time around?

Unfortunately, I suspect we’ll see a “rotated” Palace team fielded on Friday.

For me, with the club set for yet another year - our 8th consecutive one - of Premier League mediocrity (not that I’m complaining - it’s an incredible position for a club of our size), I’d love to see us really go for the cup this year.

However, I suspect cementing our safety will be top of Roy’s agenda.

Fortunately, our squad is relatively deep and we seem to have less injuries than usual so lesser-used players such as Butland, Sakho, van Aanholt, Rieldewald, McCarthy, Batshuayi and Ayew coming in mean that we should still field a strong side.

The key thing for me is whether Zaha plays - if he does, the others are less important. We simply don’t win without him.

Wolves got the better of the Eagles when the sides last met in the league, will Roy Hodgson be taking that game into account heading into this one?

I wouldn’t have thought so.

The games come around so quickly at the moment that I’m struggling to remember the game at all to be honest.

Are there any injury/covid issues at Selhurst Park at the moment?

Covid can always spring a surprise admission, especially as our captain seemed to think it was alright to go partying on New Years Eve.

As for injuries, for the first time in a long time, we don’t have many missing. Clyne was out of the last game and Martin Kelly is injured.

Summer signing from West Brom, Nathan Furguson, still hasn’t made his debut but is now back in light training.

Other than that, and Connor Wickham who’s always injured, I think we’re at full strength.

What's your predicted XI?

Butland, Ward, Sakho, Dann, van Aanholt, Townsend, Eze, McCarthy, Riedewald, Ayew, Batshuayi

What do you make of Wolves' chances in the FA Cup this season, do you see them as a side capable of going deep into the competition?

Wolves seem to have a strong squad (although currently missing a cutting edge) so I think they’re set up to do well in domestic and European cups this year.

Your match prediction?

2-0 to Wolves