Norwich took a step closer to Premier League survival with their entertaining 3-2 win over relegation rivals Newcastle and now face a Crystal Palace side that have yet to win a league game in 2016.
The Canaries could move level on points with Palace should they win this afternoon’s encounter at Selhurst Park. However, Norwich will remain in 17th no matter what the result is today due to a four-point advantage over Sunderland and an overwhelmingly poor goal difference compared to that of The Eagles.
With the tie likely to be one that it competed more in individual duels than the whole team, we look at who could be involved in the key battles on the pitch and where the weaknesses will be exposed.
P.S. The following battles are based on Norwich’s line-up being a 4-2-3-1 with Ruddy, Martin, Klose, Bennett, Olsson, Howson, O’Neil, Redmond, Naismith, Brady and Mbokani making up the starting XI and Crystal Palace fielding the same side as in their last match.
John Ruddy vs Bakary Sako
Following his return to the first-team, John Ruddy has shown why he deserves the place between the posts.
A couple of inspiring saves against Manchester City and Newcastle have cemented his place in the line-up and, if he can prevent Sako – Palace’s top goalscorer this season – from putting the ball in the back of the net, then Norwich have a great chance of winning the match.
Timm Klose vs Yannick Bolasie and Wilfred Zaha
Klose has hit the ground running since his January arrival and is a very competent defender.
Norwich’s advancing full-back will leave them exposed to counter-attacks on Saturday and it will be up to Klose to hold up Bolasie and Zaha.
In doing so, this will nullify the attacking threat of Alan Pardew’s side and secure at least a point for the hosts.
Dieumerci Mbokani vs Wayne Hennessey
Despite being involved in a controversial debacle with DR Congo off of the pitch, Mbokani shone against Newcastle.
His first goal since January sent Norwich well on their way to victory and another goal here would not go amiss.
Hennessey has been poor recently and made mistakes for both club and country so he could be exposed as a weakness.
Gary O'Neil vs Jason Puncheon
After a less than impressive start to his Norwich career, O’Neil has shown in recent weeks what an asset to the team he can be.
A stellar performance against Manchester City stopped the attacking power of David Silva and Yaya Toure and, in doing the same here, Palace would really struggle with Puncheon’s limited movement and the likeliness of them creating a chance would heavily decrease.