Whether or not it was because, on Sunday 27th
April 2014, we’d just witnessed ‘that’
slip from ‘Stevie G’, which let a certain Demba Ba in to send Chelsea
1-0 up in a game that Liverpool eventually lost
at home 2-0; we then headed into a ‘must win’ game at Selhurst Park with nerves being replaced by a sense of optimism.
Similarities
That was on the back of a very inconsistent time for us
throughout March & April 2014 – the previous six games showing on the board
as, W: 3
D: 2 L: 1 (to Liverpool ). Chelsea
We started brightly
and sure enough…BANG! Edin Dzeko does what he does “best” and
scored a vital goal in at a vital time in a vital game. 54% overall possession and 16 shots to their 3 away from home; we were
playing with a swagger and a confidence.
Yaya added at second at another vital time just
before the interval on 43 minutes and although a 3rd goal in the
second half would have calmed any remaining nerves that day, we played with our
chests out and weren’t for letting this opportunity slip away.
More nerves were to
come of course – I recall swirling butterflies aplenty in our 2-3 victory (again courtesy of ‘that man for the moment’
Dzeko) at bogey ground / side Everton before a real WOW result two days later; as the very same Crystal Palace
blasted-in 3 goals in just 9, game-changing minutes to mount an impressive 3-3
comeback to all-but-kill Liverpool ’s title
chances.
Fast forward
Now although our
chances of winning the title this season appear to be a little more difficult –
trailing Chelsea
It’s Liverpool who
could do us a favour this weekend by taking a point or more off 3rd-place
Arsenal at the Emirates
today and as for Villa at Scaffold Trafford and later-in-the-day Stoke at Stamford Bridge;
well…stranger things have happened in football.
The involvement of
Crystal Palace in last season’s title run-in against Liverpool should serve as
a warning to us this time that they are (or
certainly were under their previous manager Tony Pulis)
capable of causing an upset.
The fact that we ARE, more
realistically, in a 3-way battle for 2nd place now – and could even be 4th before our
trip to London on
Monday night - should also act as added motivation to take all 3,
desperately-needed points before a certain Manchester
And as the home
crowd can most definitely act as a 12th man these days, it’s even
more important that we attempt to ‘blow them out of the water’ early on as we
did almost 12 months ago.
According to our
manager, apart from a few ‘niggles’ to watch over the next 48 hours we have a
fully fit squad and although he won’t directly admit it; the extra couple of
days rest should give us a slight advantage following the international break;
allowing more ‘prep’ & assessment time (although
the last time we had a fully fit squad and seemingly had a more-restful
advantage it was Mr Pellegrini's tactics that
failed us; as we lost a vital game to Liverpool on 1st March 2015).
v Crystal
Palace
Predicted line-up,
subs and outcome…
4-4-2 / 4-1-3-2:
___________________Bony__________
__________Aguero_________________
_____________Fernando_____________
________________Hart_______________
Hart in net.
Probably our
strongest back-4 there.
Having been one of ‘the
7’ to remain at home during the international break - and with a personal
promise a week or so ago to use the time to get his fitness levels right up
following a ‘injury blip’ season - I’ve gone for our manager to choose Fernando
as the deeper, ‘protecting’ midfielder. 3 ahead of him in Nasri (assuming his
head is right), Toure (assuming HIS
head & motivation is right) and, of course, Silva.
And it’s 2 ‘up top’…and
I think that’ll be the rested Bony
alongside Aguero rather than midweek hat-trick hero (against Andorra ) and
then angry (against Austria
Kolarov for a
change of left-sided shape / more attacking option and Mangala as central
cover; Lampard & Milner as ‘the dependables’ in the middle of the park,
Navas for a (literal) change of pace…and Dzeko if “needed”.
Notable absentees in this
predicted line-up: Sagna, Fernandinho & Jovetic.
Result? As I’ve already more
than hinted; if we go into this game with the wrong attitude and / or, for whatever other reason, go into this noisy,
night-time-floodlit arena and are slow to start then I think they’ll get ‘at
us’…and get in front. I think we’ll then struggle and later flap towards the
end – as I’ve seen us do all-too-often
this season – and will have to scrap like crazy just to get a very disappointing point.
Go into
this from the start with a refreshed look and a determination to ‘right some
season wrongs’ and I think we’ll win this one by 2 goals or more.
I’m
banking on the latter – it’s a City win…and that’s the way we like it, we like it, we like it...
And let’s hope also that ‘potty mouth’, ageist Alan Pardew can control himself in the opposite technical area to our
manager on Monday night…
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