The start to this season has been far from ideal for these two and they will be desperate to use this game to turn things around. Crystal Palace have lost both of their games, not scored and generally being very disappointing. Swansea have managed a point but they are also yet to score and the loss of Gylfi Sigurdsson is going to hit them hard.
This may not be the most exciting game of the weekend to watch, but for fans of these two clubs it is an important one and one in which they are desperate to see a result go their way. We may only be two games into the season but this game has an added importance for both teams, which should mean they both come out fighting to win the points.
Crystal Palace Form
An opening day 3-0 hammering at home to newly promoted Huddersfield was the worst possible start for Crystal Palace. They defended poorly and showed nothing going forward, giving new manager Frank De Boer the worst possible start.
Things didn’t get much better a week later, they lost 1-0 away at Liverpool, managing to defend better but still causing no problems with their attacking play. They did score twice on Tuesday in the EFL Cup, but that came against lower league Ipswich.
If Crystal Palace are to survive this season then their attacking play must improve and quickly. So far I have seen nothing from them to show they are capable of staying up and if they don’t improve this is going to be a very long season for their fans.
Swansea Form
Swansea’s opening day point against Southampton was a very good one and something they would have taken before that game. However, their game last weekend was the opposite, they were overrun by an impressive Manchester United team and didn’t have an answer. They failed to create many chances going forward and were carved open at the back on numerous occasions.
The loss of Gylfi Sigurdsson is a big one and Swansea must invest in the team over the next week before deadline day. If they don’t they could find themselves in a lot of trouble around the Christmas period, just like they did last season, but this time the hole may be too big to escape from. Being away from home there is less pressure on Swansea this afternoon, although they could really do with getting something to show that they are ready for the fight.
Team News
Crystal Palace performed better defensively last weekend, so their focus must now turn to scoring goals. With players like Christian Benteke, Andros Townsend and Jason Puncheon they do have a creative side to their line-up, but now those players must step up and perform.
With no goals so far in the league, and no shots on goal against Manchester United last weekend, Swansea need to find a way to move forward without Gylfi Sigurdsson. Their front four of Jordan Ayew, Tammy Abraham, Martin Olsson and Tom Carroll needs to create and move the ball forward more often.
Without goals it is obvious that Swansea are going to struggle this season and they need to address the problem. Whether that is with new players or a new system I don’t know, but something needs to be done.
Top Betting Tips
This is a very tough game to sort out, with two very bad teams going head to head in a game they are both desperate to get something from. After seeing both teams go through their first two games without scoring a goal, I don’t think we are going to see an end to end classic with many chances here.
With that in mind I am going to go for a 0-0 draw in this game, which can be backed with William Hill and Ladbrokes at 8/1. For two teams that are struggling to score this seems like value to me. Both will want to keep things tight, neither will want to lose the game and because of that, I could see this game being fought out in the middle of the park, with few clear cut chances.
Both need to show that they are capable of surviving over the coming games because neither have done that so far. It will be an interesting matchup, but one that I can see being quite boring for the neutral, hopefully also resulting in a 0-0 draw to give us a winning bet.