Ahead of the final game of the season, Paul Merson has shared his Crystal Palace prediction for the game against Aston Villa.
This weekend will see the 2023-24 season end and this will come much to the annoyance of Oliver Glasner who has his team on fire.
Crystal Palace will be desperate to pick up another win and hope results elsewhere go their way to finish the season 10th.
This would be a joint-best finish in the Premier League era for Palace which is a testament to the excellent work Glasner has done over the past few months.
Ahead of the game, Paul Merson has shared his prediction for the game.
How Merson has predicted Palace vs Villa
Writing his weekly predictions column on SportsKeeda, Merson has had his say on Villa’s visit to Selhurst Park.
“Aston Villa have got the job done and are through to the group stages of next season’s Champions League.
“They’ve earned the right to ease off during the last game of the season and all their players would have been out celebrating, so I can’t see anything but a Palace win here.”
After predicting a Palace win, with a scoreline of 2-1 to the Eagles, he continued to suggest that Glasner’s side are the best in the world.
“Crystal Palace are playing as well as anyone on the planet and this is a great game for them to end their season on a high.”
It wasn’t just Merson making predictions though, as Chris Sutton also had his say.
Chris Sutton predicts the biggest challenge the Eagles will face this summer, amid the prediction
Writing his own predictions for BBC Sport, Sutton has also predicted what Palace’s biggest challenge right now is.
“Crystal Palace’s biggest challenge is going to be keeping hold of Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta, who form such a formidable forward line.
“They have helped the Eagles put together this great run of five wins and a draw from their past six games, and I think we will see more of the same on Sunday.
“Aston Villa know they are in next season’s Champions League, so it is job done for Unai Emery and his players.
“They have probably been on the lash to celebrate since Tottenham lost against Manchester City on Tuesday, so I am going with a Palace win.”
Sutton concluded by stating a 2-1 scoreline just like Merson did, which is as unanimous as it comes with both in total agreement.
What needs to happen for Palace to finish 10th?
With these results, Palace will do themselves a favour and make it so a 10th-place finish is possible.
However, it isn’t in the Eagles’ hands, and rather two other teams will need to do Glasner a favour.
Firstly, Manchester United must beat Brighton, and also Chelsea must beat Bournemouth.
If all of this happens, then Palace stand a very good chance of securing a 10th-place finish this season.
