The FA Cup third round gets underway at Selhurst Park on Thursday night as Crystal Palace play host to fellow Premier League outfit Everton.
Both the Eagles and the Toffees will be hoping to better their efforts from last season's competition as they were eliminated in the third round to Southampton and Manchester United respectively.
Match preview
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Following a miserable eight-game winless run in the Premier League, Crystal Palace ended 2023 on a high as they came from behind to beat Brentford 3-1 at Selhurst Park last Saturday.
The Eagles were trailing inside the first two minutes courtesy of a strike from Keane Lewis-Potter, but two goals from Michael Olise and a strike from Eberechi Eze helped the hosts claim three much-needed points to ease the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson.
Not only have 14th-placed Palace moved six points clear of the relegation zone, but they managed to gain three points on five of the six teams below them in the table, although 18th-placed Luton Town still possess a game in hand.
Before preparing for their next Premier League fixture at Arsenal on January 20, Palace will shift their focus to the FA Cup, a competition in which they have experienced mixed success in recent seasons as they have been eliminated from the third round in four of the last six years, but reached the semi-finals in 2021-22.
The Eagles have only progressed from two of their previous six FA Cup ties against Thursday's opponents Everton, but they did thrash the Toffees 4-0 on home soil in their most recent cup clash in March 2022.
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It looked as if Everton were turning a corner under manager Sean Dyche as they won seven games out of nine across all competitions heading into the festive period, but they ended 2023 with four straight defeats in a 12-day period, conceding nine goals in the process.
A penalty-shootout loss at home for Fulham in the EFL Cup was followed by three successive defeats in the Premier League, including a disappointing 3-0 away loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers last Saturday – a game in which the Toffees failed to register any of their 10 shots on target.
Dyche's side subsequently remain 16th in the Premier League table, just one point above the relegation zone with Luton, as previously mentioned, having a game in hand, and their upcoming top-flight fixture schedule is challenging to say the least as they face Aston Villa, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in their next four matches.
A break from Premier League action is just what the doctor ordered for Everton as they prepare to face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup, although success in this competition against top-flight opposition has been difficult to come by for the Toffees, as they have lost seven of their last nine such ties, including all four away from home during this run.
Everton are also winless in their last 12 FA Cup games played in London, but their recent record against Palace bodes well ahead of Thursday's contest as they have won three and drawn one of their last four meetings, most recently beating the Eagles 3-2 at Selhurst Park in November.
Team News
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Crystal Palace will have to cope without star winger Olise, who is ruled out for the foreseeable future with a hamstring injury sustained towards the end of Saturday's win over Brentford, and Jordan Ayew is also unavailable as he has linked up with Ghana for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Cheick Doucoure (Achilles) and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (thigh) both remain long-term absentees, while Sam Johnstone (calf), Rob Holding (ankle) and Joel Ward (thigh) are all targeting a return at some stage later this month.
Odsonne Edouard returned to the substitutes' bench last weekend after missing three games with a knee injury, and the striker will battle with Jean-Philippe Mateta for a start up front against Everton, while the likes of Will Hughes, Jeffery Schlupp, Jairo Riedewald and Matheus Franca will also be hoping to force their way into the first XI.
As for Everton, Ashley Young (knock) and Dele Alli (groin) are still sidelined through injury, and Abdoulaye Doucoure (thigh) remains touch-and-go, while Idrissa Gueye is nursing an unspecified injury but is set to join up with the Senegal squad for AFCON duty anyway.
After Wolves exploited Everton's three-man backline last time out, Dyche will likely revert to a four-man defence on Thursday, with either Michael Keane or Jarrad Braithwaite set to make way for a midfielder.
Andre Gomes or Doucoure, pending a late fitness test, could deputise alongside James Garner and Andre Onana, while Beto, Arnaut Danjuma, Lewis Dobbin and Youssef Chermiti are four attacking options who will be pushing to start.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Lerma, Hughes; Franca, Eze, Schlupp; Edouard
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Onana, Garner, Gomes, McNeil; Beto
We say: Crystal Palace 1-1 Everton
Both teams were involved in an eventful five-goal thriller at Selhurst Park just two months ago, but a tighter affair could be in store on Thursday if the two sides opt to make several changes to their lineups.
Everton have got the better of Crystal Palace in recent meetings, but the Eagles enter this contest in higher spirits on the back of their top-flight win at the weekend, so they may just do enough to claim a share of the spoils this time around, sending the tie to a somewhat undesirable third-round replay.
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