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Crystal Palace v Southampton

BBC
·3-min read

Team news

Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi is suspended as a consequence of accumulating five bookings this season, so Chris Richards will deputise.

Will Hughes will be assessed after he was forced off against Bournemouth, while Matheus Franca and Adam Wharton remain out.

Southampton forward Maxwel Cornet is available again, having been ineligible to face parent club West Ham United on Boxing Day.

Jack Stephens could make his first appearance since completing a four-match ban, while Will Smallbone is nearing a return from a hamstring injury.

Match facts

Head-to-head

  • Crystal Palace can equal their longest league winning streak against Southampton of four matches, set in 1991.

  • Palace won both Premier League meetings without conceding a goal during Southampton's last top-flight season in 2022-23, triumphing 1-0 at home and 2-0 away.

  • However, Saints have won six Premier League fixtures at Selhurst Park, second only to their seven victories at Villa Park.

Crystal Palace

  • Crystal Palace have lost just once in seven Premier League games (W2, D4).

  • However, they could lose consecutive top-flight home matches for the first time in a year.

  • Palace have been defeated in only one of their last 13 Premier League home fixtures against promoted sides, 3-0 against Fulham in December 2022.

  • They are attempting to win their final league game in four consecutive calendar years for the first time since 1963.

  • Palace have been involved in 36 goalless draws in the Premier League since returning in 2013-14, the joint most of any side, along with Everton.

  • Ismaila Sarr has scored three and set up one of Palace's last four Premier League goals.

Southampton

  • Southampton have just six points after 18 games. Only two teams have had as few at this stage of a Premier League season, and both finished bottom - Sunderland in 2006 and Sheffield United in 2021.

  • The fewest points a team has had at the halfway stage of a Premier League campaign and avoided relegation is 10 by West Bromwich Albion in 2004-05.

  • Southampton's solitary win in their past 31 Premier League matches was by 1-0 at home to Everton on 2 November.

  • They haven't won their final league game of a calendar year in the top flight since beating Sunderland in 2002.

  • Saints haven't won their final match of a calendar year when it has been away from home since defeating Oxford United in 1975 in the second tier.

  • They are winless in their last 16 Premier League away games, scoring just one goal across their last five fixtures on the road.

  • However, Saints have earned two points from their last three away fixtures, matching their total tally from the previous 13 attempts.

  • No team has failed to score in more Premier League games than Southampton's nine this season.

  • Their tallies of 11 goals scored and 54 shots on target are both the fewest of any side.

  • Southampton have faced 17 shots in the opening five minutes of matches, the joint most of any Premier League team.