Week 18 – Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace – Sport Grill

Bournemouth seek to continue their festive momentum against Crystal Palace at the Vitality Stadium.

Victory could see Bournemouth climb to fourth if Nottingham Forest lose elsewhere, whilst Palace can go 15th if better Everton’s result.

Team News

Adam Smith is a doubt for Bournemouth after he suffered a knock in their 3-0 win at Manchester United.

Julian Araujo, Luis Sinisterra (both hamstring), Marcus Tavernier, Marcos Senesi (both muscle) and Alex Scott (knee) remain absent.

Palace will welcome Daniel Munoz back into contention after he was suspended for their 5-1 loss against Arsenal.

Eberechi Eze (foot) and Chadi Riad (fitness) face fitness checks.

Adam Wharton (groin), Matheus Franca (adductor) and Rob Holding (personal) remain sidelined.

When is Kick-Off?

Bournemouth entertain Palace at Vitality Stadium on Thursday 26 December at 3pm GMT, live on Amazon in the UK.

Stat Attack

• Bournemouth have won two of their last seven league meetings against Palace (W2, L5).
• Palace have claimed 11 points in nine Premier League visits to Bournemouth (W3, D2, L2).
• Three of the last four meetings in this fixture ended in 2-0 results, with Palace winning two of the three such matches.
• Bournemouth held Palace to a goalless draw in their only previous Boxing Day encounter in the Premier League in 2015.
• Palace have scored first in each of their last six away matches in all competitions (W3, D2, L1).

Prediction

Unbeaten in five matches and now sniffing a top-four spot, Bournemouth just need to keep playing with the same intensity and confidence as they’ve done lately – which certainly paid off in a clinical but defensively resilient win at Man Utd.

Palace were utterly outplayed by Arsenal if slightly unlucky in their own end product but their sloppy marking proved costly, so I do expect them to bounce back given their current away form and particularly in this fixture.

I will be surprised if this finishes goalless but if Bournemouth can find clinical consistency, I would fancy them to edge this.

Prediction: Bournemouth 2-1 Crystal Palace