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Key occasions
“Crystal Palace v Forest seems like one thing out of The Chronicles of Narnia”, emails Peter Oh. “Even the managers’ names give off sorcerer vibes. Glasner and Espírito Santo”.
In case you missed this. One of many week’s finest tales.
Eze is a relative newcomer to chess, having been taught the sport by his former Palace teammate Michael Olise. He stated in 2023 that Olise, now at Bayern Munich, had launched him and his brother to the sport on the membership’s coaching floor. “That’s after I began learning it, watching YouTube movies of the perfect chess openings, issues like that. We’re at all times taking part in one thing on the coaching floor.”
All three of Forest’s remaining video games after this one are winnable – Leicester (h), West Ham (a), Chelsea (h), definitely not the simplest however not unhealthy both. Let’s evaluate them to the opposite 4 contenders for the highest 5
Manchester Metropolis
Southampton (a)
Bournemouth (h)
Fulham (a)
That’s not unhealthy in any respect. You’d anticipate Metropolis to take a minimum of seven factors from these three.
Newcastle
Chelsea (h)
Arsenal (a)
Everton (h)
Difficult. Rather a lot rests on their subsequent outcome, at house to Chelsea.
Chelsea
Newcastle (a)
Manchester United (h)
Nottingham Forest (a)
That’s dastardly however not not possible.
Aston Villa
Bournemouth (a)
Tottenham (h)
Manchester United (a)
One other robust set of fixtures. Given they’re seventh with a poor relative aim distinction, I’d say that will likely be an uphill battle.
Palace are unchanged from the XI that beat Aston Villa within the FA Cup semi-final. Hardly a shock name from Glasner, Palace had been completely good at Wembley.
Forest make two modifications from the staff that misplaced at house to Brentford, with Nicolas Dominguez and Ibrahim Sangare changing the injured Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ryan Yates.
The groups!
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell, Sarr, Eze, Mateta.
Subs: Devenny, Chilwell, Esse, Hughes, Clyne, Franca, Nketiah, Lerma, Matthews.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Sangare, Dominguez, Elanga, Gibbs-White, Anderson, Wooden.
Subs: Carlos Miguel, Morato, Awoniyi, Toffolo, Jota Silva, Yates, Sosa, Danilo, Boly.
Preamble
Who would you quite be? Crystal Palace, marooned in mid-table however with an FA Cup remaining to return (victory during which would safe Europa League qualification) or Nottingham Forest, out of the FA Cup however nonetheless with an excellent likelihood of qualifying for the Champions League?
I say excellent and never wonderful as a result of Forest have been on one thing of a stinker of late, only one win and three losses of their final 4 league video games, which isn’t actually Champions League type, chaps. That stated, they’re very a lot nonetheless in it. 4 factors behind third-placed Manchester Metropolis, simply three factors behind each fourth-placed Newcastle and fifth-placed Chelsea. This sport, away at Palace, is their sport in hand. It’s completely very important that they win tonight, not solely to place factors again on the board, but in addition change the momentum which has not too long ago seen them hurtle out of the highest 5.
Palace and Forest have each had wonderful seasons by their beforehand middling expectations and this can be a effective time to be a fan of both membership. Let’s hope for a very good sport.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.