Crystal Palace and Norwich City will both be looking to bounce back from disappointing defeats on Boxing Day when they meet in the Premier League at Selhurst Park on Tuesday.
Both remain in poor form as a result, but will have to turn things around quickly during the hectic festive schedule, as they go in search of the three points just 48 hours later.
Match preview
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Despite a request to postpone their fixture at Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day due to COVID-19 absences in the squad, Palace made the short trip across London to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
A short five-minute spell effectively decided the Eagles' fate in the encounter though, as Patrick Vieira's men eventually fell to a 3-0 defeat in the capital.
After a quickfire double from the hosts left Palace 2-0 behind just after the half-an-hour mark, Wilfried Zaha was then sent off for a second yellow card in a needless altercation with Emerson Royal just three minutes after the second goal.
As a result, Vieira could only set his side up for damage limitation for the rest of the game, and he was perhaps a little pleased that the scoreline did not become a humiliation.
Following the defeat though, Palace have won just once in their last seven Premier League outings ahead of the visit of Norwich on Tuesday, which has seen them drop to 12th in the table at the time of writing.
Nine points still separate the Eagles from the drop zone, but Vieira will be keen for his side to turn results around in the coming weeks to ensure they are not dragged into a relegation battle come May.
With three victories and no defeats in their last five meetings with Tuesday's opponents over the last few years, Palace will be confident of getting back on track in front of their own supporters.
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Meanwhile, Norwich's Christmas spirit was knocked out of them on Sunday as well, with the Canaries being thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal at Carrow Road.
Dean Smith's side were once again outclassed and looked out of place in the top flight during the game, as they struggled to lay a finger on their opponents throughout.
From the moment that Bukayo Saka had opened the scoring inside six minutes, and especially when Kieran Tierney doubled Arsenal's advantage just before half time, Norwich did not look like they were capable of picking up any points from the match.
As a result, it is now four consecutive defeats for Smith, all of which his side have failed to score in.
Tuesday's visitors remarkably only remain three points from safety despite their current return of just 10 points, and eight goals scored, in their opening 18 games on their return to the top flight.
However, with Smith's initial three-game unbeaten run after taking charge well and truly in the past following the current losing streak, results and performances will certainly need to improve drastically in the coming weeks for his side to avoid another immediate return to the Championship.
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Team News
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With just 48 hours between both sides' fixtures played on Boxing Day and this clash at Selhurst Park, changes will be expected to both sets of starting lineups on Tuesday.
However, with as many as six COVID-19 absentees for the hosts, things could prove more difficult for Vieira.
Vicente Guaita, Nathaniel Clyne, Luka Milivojevic, Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Christian Benteke are all set to miss out again following their absence at Tottenham due to positive test results.
Key man Zaha has proven to be a huge miss over the last few years when he has been absent, and he will sit out this one through a one-match suspension following his red card on Sunday, whilst James McArthur will also be unavailable due to a hamstring injury.
As for the visitors, first-choice goalkeeper Tim Krul, and Lukas Rupp, both missed out on Boxing Day due to positive COVID-19 tests themselves, so will be expected to be unavailable once more on Tuesday.
The defensive trio of Grant Hanley, Andrew Omobamidele and Christoph Zimmermann are not expected to return until January, whilst the midfield duo of Mathias Normann and Milot Rashica should also miss out through injury.
The likes of Dimitrios Giannoulis, Pierre Lees Melou, Todd Cantwell and Adam Idah will be pushing for starts should Smith freshen up his side as expected.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Butland; Kelly, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Gallagher, Riedewald, Schlupp; Ayew, Mateta, Edouard
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Aarons, Kabak, Gibson, Giannoulis; Gilmour, McLean; Sargent, Melou, Cantwell; Idah
We say: Crystal Palace 1-0 Norwich City
Despite the absence of Zaha and several others on Tuesday, Palace will be expected to register three points against struggling Norwich.
We are only predicting a narrow victory however, with the hosts looking a far poorer side without their key man in it in recent years, but as things stand it looks difficult to predict when the next points are going to arrive for a Norwich side severely lacking in quality and experience.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Crystal Palace win with a probability of 50.1%. A draw had a probability of 25.9% and a win for Norwich City had a probability of 24.04%.
The most likely scoreline for a Crystal Palace win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.62%) and 2-1 (9.28%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.23%), while for a Norwich City win it was 0-1 (8.06%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 4.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Crystal Palace would win this match.
