SAKA, ANTONY AND 10 PREMIER LEAGUE STARS HEADING TO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP
Crystal Palace travel to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom in Sunday’s early kick-off, where they’ll be hoping to make amends for two disappointing defeats.
Roy Hodgson’s men have suffered back-to-back losses to Burnley and Newcastle, so they’ll be hoping for a win in the Midlands.
Let’s see which XI the ex-England manager should deploy against Slaven Bilic’s men…
Scott Dann and Patrick van Aanholt dropped
We think that Hodgson should drop Scott Dann for the trip to West Brom, as well as Patrick van Aanholt.
Why? Well, the £2.6 million signing from Blackburn only started the campaign due to injuries to Gary Cahill, James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho. He has performed well, although in Cahill and Sakho, there is a partnership with more quality in waiting.
In Van Aanholt’s case, we recently made clear that we didn’t think Tyrick Mitchell deserved to lose his place, and we stand by that. The £29,000-a-week academy graduate deserves to come back in.
Still no Luka Milivojevic, Jairo Riedewald returns
Inexplicably, Hodgson dropped the in-form Jairo Riedewald against Newcastle – we’re seriously hoping that the Dutchman doesn’t remain back on the bench.
Elsewhere, despite his three-game ban coming to an end, we don’t think Luka Milivojevic has shown enough this season – or last season for that matter – to waltz straight back into the side.
Wilfried Zaha back, Jeffrey Schlupp keeps his place
The biggest team news for the Eagles is that Wilfried Zaha is available again. Obviously, unlike Milivojeivc, he can warrant an immediate return to the XI.
Elsewhere, we think Jeffrey Schlupp looked lively in attack against Newcastle, so we’d like to see the Ghanaian keep his place on the right of a front three with Michy Batshuayi in the centre.
Predicted lineup: Guaita; Clyne, Cahill, Sakho, Mitchell; Riedewald, Eze, McArthur; Zaha, Batshuayi, Schlupp
