Bottom-half Premier League battlers Crystal Palace and Luton Town will both endeavour to right the wrongs of last weekend in Saturday's top-flight clash at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles succumbed to a Tottenham Hotspur fightback in a 3-1 loss to the Lilywhites in gameweek 27, before the Hatters suffered an excruciating 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa.
Match preview
© Reuters
Truly defining the expression back with a bang, Palace jewel Eberechi Eze - making his first Premier League start since the end of January due to a muscular injury - broke the deadlock at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a ferocious free kick just before the hour mark.
Oliver Glasner's men entered the final 15 minutes on course for a second win in the Austrian's second match in charge, but a late Tottenham flurry saw Timo Werner, Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min turn the match around to send the Eagles back to Selhurst Park empty-handed.
Glasner's Palace were given a taste of their own medicine in North London, having overcome Burnley in their first game under new management thanks to three quickfire strikes, and the Eagles remain in danger of being dragged deeper into the demotion dogfight in 14th place in the Premier League table.
Form at Selhurst Park since the festive period has provided a sliver of comfort for the Eagles faithful, though, as only one of Palace's last six games on home turf has seen the hosts fall short - their 3-1 loss to Chelsea last month - and Eze's imminent return to Selhurst Park soil will also put a few more smiles on faces.
Furthermore, four of Palace's last five Premier League fixtures against newly-promoted sides have seen the Eagles triumph - the most recent being their 3-0 success over Burnley in Glasner's inaugural match - but the one outlier in that sequence came against none other than Saturday's visitors.
© Reuters
Four days on from witnessing Erling Haaland's five-goal masterclass in their FA Cup loss to Manchester City, pained Luton Town fans watched another red-hot centre-forward terrorise their backline on March 2, as Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins put the Lions two goals to the good inside the opening 45 minutes.
However, after threatening an improbable turnaround against Man City, Rob Edwards's men looked to have stolen a point from the jaws of defeat courtesy of Tahith Chong and Carlton Morris's efforts, only for Lucas Digne to nod home Villa's winning goal at the back stick with 89 minutes on the clock.
Luton are no strangers to conceding last-minute headers at home - see Declan Rice for Arsenal in December - and another agonising aerial effort means that it is now five losses on the bounce for the leaky Hatters in all tournaments, four of which have come in the top flight.
Eighteenth place in the table belongs to Edwards's side ahead of the weekend - a standing which they are guaranteed to finish the gameweek in as they sit four points adrift of Nottingham Forest - although they still have a game in hand over their fellow relegation battlers.
Severely impacted by their growing injury list, Luton have shipped multiple goals in each of their last six matches - conceding an alarming 22 in total over that stretch - but they ran out 2-1 winners over Crystal Palace at Kenilworth Road in November and could now complete a league double against the Eagles for just the fourth time.
Team News
© Reuters
While Eze returned from his month-long absence for Palace's encounter with Tottenham, Glasner could not call upon Michael Olise (thigh), Rob Holding (ankle), Cheick Doucoure (Achilles), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (thigh) or Marc Guehi, the latter of whom has now undergone surgery on a knee injury.
Jordan Ayew - the second-most fouled player in the Premier League this season behind Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes - was taken off in the 71st minute of the loss to Spurs with a hip problem, but Glasner does not think that the attacker had sustained anything severe.
The Eagles manager will be particularly keen to have Ayew fit due to the additional absences of Matheus Franca and Jeffrey Schlupp, both of whom have been ruled out of this match with groin problems.
Meanwhile, Luton boss Edwards's decision to risk Amari'i Bell for the Villa encounter backfired horribly, as after the defender was taken off early in the FA Cup loss to Man City, he lasted just six minutes last weekend before succumbing to a severe thigh injury.
Bell is one of a staggering 10 concerns for the ravaged Hatters, who cannot call upon Mads Andersen (calf), Albert Sambi Lokonga (thigh), Jacob Brown (knee), Elijah Adebayo (thigh), Dan Potts (thigh), Tom Lockyer (heart), Joe Johnson (glandular fever) or Marvelous Nakamba (knee) for the trip to Selhurst Park either.
The only Luton player who might exit the infirmary in the coming hours is Gabriel Osho (muscle), but either Daiki Hashioka or Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu might have to be shoe-horned into a central role this weekend if the former is not ready.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Richards; Munoz, Wharton, Lerma, Mitchell; Eze, Ayew; Mateta
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Hashioka, Mengi, Burke; Kabore, Barkley, Clark, Doughty; Ogbene, Chong; Morris
We say: Crystal Palace 3-1 Luton Town
A threadbare Luton deserve plaudits for the manner of their fightback against Champions League-chasing Aston Villa, and no matter who Edwards's men are faced with, the Hatters always have a goal in them and have now scored in 10 successive fixtures.
However, Luton's prolific streak in front of goal has recently been rendered meaningless due to their abysmal defensive showings, something which Palace should take full advantage of as Glasner continues his perfect start at home.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
