Crystal Palace and Burnley retain hopes of making a late push for European football ahead of Monday’s Premier League meeting at Selhurst Park.
Palace saw a four-game winning run abruptly ended by Liverpool last time out and will be keen to bounce back on home soil.
Burnley, however, lost 5-0 to Manchester City when returning to action earlier in the month but they earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Watford last week.
The pair have enjoyed almost identical campaigns and can’t be separated in terms of points after 31 games.
A superior goal difference has Palace sitting 10th with Burnley one spot below and the pair are only three points adrift of seventh-placed Tottenham.
There could be a European place up for grabs if either side can enjoy a strong end to the 2019-20 term, although they would require Arsenal, Sheffield United and Tottenham to slip up.
Injury Concerns for Both Sides
The Eagles are sweating over the availability of Wilfried Zaha for Monday’s outing, while Christian Benteke and Vicente Guaita will also need to be assessed.
Meanwhile, Burnley have further concerns in the frontline as Thursday’s match-winner Jay Rodriguez is a doubt.
Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood, Robbie Brady and Johann Berg Gudmundsson are expected to miss out.
With several attacking options likely to be sidelined for both sides, this match could prove to be a tight and tense affair.
Indeed, Barnes and Wood have been crucial to Burnley’s success this season, scoring a combined 17 goals and their absence could be hugely detrimental.
Palace, meanwhile, have top scorer Jordan Ayew available and he is priced at 21/10* to score anytime as he looks to add to his tally of nine.
Home Win Looks Best Bet
A home win looks to be the most likely outcome when assessing the outright market and Palace can be backed at 13/10.
They are on a four-match winning run in this fixture, keeping clean sheets in three of them, and a Palace win to nil is available at 43/20.
Burnley have only won once in their past 13 visits to Palace, drawing six and losing six, with that triumph coming back in April 2017.
As mentioned earlier, this game isn’t likely to be the most exciting spectacle as two of the league’s lowest-scoring clubs square off.
Only rock-bottom Norwich have scored fewer goals than Palace, while Burnley have only registered 35 times in 31 outings.
With that in mind, under 2.5 goals, which can be backed at 10/19, could be the way to go in this clash.
Finally, the return of Premier League football behind closed doors has seen many clubs struggle to find a rhythm in the first half.
Matches have often been decided in the second period and it’s worth considering draw/Palace in the half time/full time market, which is available at 4/1.
*All odds correct at time of writing
