Palace Preview: How Eagles can continue excellent record v Stoke

Match previews

9 Feb 2022

Crystal Palace take on Stoke City at Selhurst Park as they look to continue their excellent record against the Potters and book a place in the FA Cup quarter-final.

Previous meetings

Palace’s record against Stoke is a good one, winning eight of their last 10 meetings in all competitions.

James McArthur was on the scoresheet the last time the two met, as Palace came from behind to take all three points from the bet365 Stadium in May 2018. The Eagles also won the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park, recovering from a goal down once again to snatch a last minute victory.

The two last met in the FA Cup in January, 2016, in south London as Palace continued their remarkable run to the final, with Wilfried Zaha scoring the only goal.

Preview

A frustrating afternoon against Burnley last weekend did not negate a positive week for Palace, recovering from a hard-to-swallo defeat at Chelsea's hands to take four points from two important games.

A hugely impressive victory at Vicarage Road against Watford was followed by a draw against the Clarets, leaving the Eagles on a positive run before Stoke's arrival.

“They worked hard in the first-half and I think physically at the end we had momentum,” Vieira said of the draw. “We had a couple of chances and situations but overall of course when you lead and score first you want to win the game. They made it really difficult for us and all credit to them.”

Palace have been clinical so far in the FA Cup this season. After falling behind early on to Millwall, they put the vociferous atmosphere to the back of their minds to fight back, with goals from Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta completing the turnaround.

Olise was on the scoresheet once again in the fourth round at home to Hartlepool, adding the second after setting up Marc Guéhi for the game’s opener. It meant a place in the fifth round draw, and a tie against Stoke City at Selhurst Park.

The visitors come into this game having suffered a recent dip in form, failing to win any of their last four outings.

Defeats to Bournemouth and Luton Town have left them sitting 15th in the Championship table, well clear of relegation but 10 points off the play-off places with little time to claw themselves back into a promotion fight.

Led by hugely experienced managed Michael O’Neill, who took charge of Northern Ireland for nine years before arriving in the Potteries, Stoke have seen off Wigan Athletic and Leyton Orient already in the FA Cup this season, yet to concede a goal.

However, the Palace clash is their first on the road and the hosts will hope that home advantage – and the famous Selhurst Park atmosphere – has a big part to play in the result.

Tactical overview

Vieira made three changes to his side to take on Burnley at the weekend, bringing in Jeffrey Schlupp, Luka Milivojević and James McArthur – Schlupp getting on the scoresheet.

“We had a gameplan,” the manager explained. “The reason we played Jeff Schlupp in that position is because of his mobility to run in-behind. He managed to be in the right place and score a goal.”

It means a selection dilemma in the wide areas for Vieira. With Olise having excelled against Hartlepool and Millwall, he could start on the right – but he also featured in the No.10 position against Chelsea.

Zaha played as a central striker in that game, but could move back out to the left should one of Odsonne Edouard, Christian Benteke and Mateta play up-front instead.

Stoke have often deployed a 3-5-2 formation this season, with Phil Jagielka providing extra experience since his move from Derby County. Former Manchester United man Nick Powell and Jacob Brown provide the attacking impetus as a strike partnership, scoring 15 goals between them this season.

Match details

Tuesday, 1st March
19:30 GMT
Selhurst Park
BBC iPlayer and Red Button

How to follow

On Palace TV+

Live audio commentary Palace v Stoke will be available on Palace TV+, a subscription service which gives subscribers live access to selected Academy match broadcasts, live audio commentary of all league and cup first-team games, and much more.

Find out more by clicking here.

Social media

You can check out our Instagram story for all of the pre-match build-up and our official Twitter page is bringing you up-to-the-minute match updates, eye-catching photos and more.

Our club website, cpfc.co.uk, is the place to go for team news on the dot, an instant report and all the post-match votes.

The official app

The official Palace app’s match centre is the place to be for everything you need during the Stoke clash. With live stats and alerts, a running match commentary feed and lineups the moment they’re released as well as an instant match report and post-match reaction from Palace TV+, there’s no need to leave the app to follow the Eagles’ efforts.

Download our app for free here!

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