Bournemouth v Crystal Palace
15:00
Bournemouth shared the spoils with Watford in a 2-2 draw last time out, but they’ll be feeling well-rested after a weekend without FA Cup action ahead of their midweek fixture against Crystal Palace. Palace suffered a comprehensive 0-3 loss at Selhurst Park against Man City in the Cup, a game that leaves them with just one win in their last 11 games. Bournemouth have not lost to Palace in their last three meetings and they’ll back themselves to win at home and move further from the drop zone.
The problem for Crystal Palace will be their poor away record against middle-third sides this season. They’ve lost six of seven winless games against such teams this term, and these have tended to be high-scoring – five of the six losses have seen more than two goals and four have had more than three. That being said, they may fancy their chances against a Bournemouth side that has lost four of its last five against bottom-six sides (albeit with three of those losses coming away) and has gone winless in its last three in the league. All of those games have seen more than three strikes, so this has the potential to be a goal-fest.
Bournemouth haven’t been consistent enough for us to back them to take the victory, but both these teams have been very weak defensively. We think this match will see Over 2.5 goals.
