Relegation-threatened Sunderland could climb out of the bottom three with a victory over out-of-form Crystal Palace when they welcome the Eagles to the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.
The match has developed into something of an unlikely relegation battle due to Palace's descent down the table and is now of great importance to both sides.
Sunderland
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The bookies still have the Black Cats as odds-on favourites to be playing Championship football next season, but that could all change in this midweek round of games.
On paper, it seems to be a chance for Sunderland to steal a priceless march on their closest rivals, with a win against their ailing opponents potentially seeing them climb up to the safe haven of 17th place.
Out-of-form Norwich City face a tricky home match against a resurgent Chelsea, while Newcastle United and Swansea City face difficult away trips to Stoke City and Arsenal respectively on Wednesday night.
At the very least, Sam Allardyce has given his side a better chance of securing survival this season, with only one point separating them from safety and goal difference currently lying in Sunderland's advantage compared to the rest of the bottom four.
That is despite the Black Cats having conceded a joint league-high 51 goals this season and having managed just one win in their last six league games.
Those six games do include matches against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and West Ham United, though, a difficult spell of fixtures through which Sunderland have more than held their own at times.
That was the case again on Saturday when they made the long trip down to London for the early kickoff against West Ham and, while Allardyce's return to the Boleyn Ground was unsuccessful in terms of points, there were positives to take from the performance.
Indeed, it was only a defensive error, followed by a precise finish, that cost the Black Cats the game, and if they can finally weed out those mistakes at the back then the likes of Jermain Defoe and Wahbi Khazri could have enough firepower to lift them to safety - no team in the bottom eight can match Sunderland's 32 goals this season.
With Palace, Newcastle, Norwich and West Bromwich Albion amongst the teams still left for Sunderland to play, it is worth noting that four of their six league wins this season have come against sides in the bottom seven of the table.
Four of the six have also come at the Stadium of Light, where Manchester City are the only visiting team to have won this calendar year, and another victory on Tuesday would give them back-to-back home league wins for the first time since May 2014.
Recent form: LDLDWL
Crystal Palace
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When Alan Pardew was tucking into his Christmas dinner, with his side sitting pretty in fifth place, he could not have expected this match to be quite as important as it is shaping up to be.
While the Eagles can still breathe relatively comfortably with an eight-point gap separating them from the relegation zone, their downward spiral needs to be halted soon if they are to avoid being dragged into the mire.
Pardew himself has now acknowledged that the club's aims this season have switched dramatically from a top-five finish to simply surviving, with Palace still eight points adrift of that magic 40-point mark.
Their winless streak in the Premier League now sits at 10 matches, while since the turn of the year they have managed just one point from the last 24 available. However well they may have performed over the first half of the season, that is relegation form.
The latest of those games looked like shaping up to be the lowest point of all when they fell three goals down to goal-shy West Brom inside 31 minutes at The Hawthorns on Saturday during what turned out to be an unlikely classic.
It was a first-half display to forget for the Eagles, but they fought back in the second half and fell just short of a dramatic comeback after Connor Wickham's brace had reduced the deficit to just one goal.
While it was another defeat for Pardew, the second half would have certainly raised a few spirits, not least through the half-time introduction of Yannick Bolasie off the bench, with the fit-again winger immediately providing his side with a much greater and much more direct attacking threat.
His cameo is one of a smattering of positives for Palace, and with more than half of their league goals this season having come from set pieces, perhaps the biggest of those positives will come from seeing the rare sight of one of his strikers scoring from open play - not once but twice.
The next step will be to turn that improved 45-minute performance into an elusive win, and Tuesday night would be an important time to do that with matches against Liverpool, Manchester United, Leicester City and West Ham on the horizon.
In the midst of all that is an FA Cup tie with Reading that will be high on Palace's priority list despite their league struggles. Pardew has made no secret of his desire to do well in the competition, but they also can't afford to take their eyes off the Premier League just yet.
Recent form: LLLDLL
Recent form (all competitions): WLDLWL
Team News
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Having stepped up his recovery with 45 minutes at the weekend, Pardew could hand a welcome return to Bolasie, who hasn't started a match since December due to injury.
Bakary Sako is also in the mix to return from a hamstring injury, which could lead to Pardew considering a switch back to the 4-5-1 formation he favoured earlier in the season.
The player to be sacrificed in such a scenario is likely to be Emmanuel Adebayor, who was anonymous before being hooked at half time on Saturday, rather than Wickham following his brace - including one goal of the season contender - last time out.
Jason Puncheon (hamstring) and James McArthur (ankle) remain sidelined through injury, while Pape Souare serves the final game of his three-match ban.
Sunderland have no new injury concerns following the weekend match and could name an unchanged side to the one that narrowly missed out against West Ham.
Duncan Watmore (ankle) and Jeremain Lens (hernia) are the two absentees for Sunderland, although the latter could be fit in time for a return at the weekend.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Mannone; Yedlin, Kone, O'Shea, Van Aanholt; N'Doye, Cattermole, Kirchhoff, M'Vila, Khazri; Defoe
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Hennessey; Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Ward; Ledley, Jedinak, Zaha, Cabaye, Bolasie; Wickham
Head To Head
Sunderland have won two of the last three meetings between these two sides, including a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park in November when Defoe scored the only goal of the game.
Another victory in this match would give the Black Cats a league double over Palace for the first time since 1995-96, when both teams were in the second tier.
Palace, however, are unbeaten away to Sunderland since January 2005 and won the corresponding fixture last season 4-1 courtesy of a Bolasie hat-trick in the second half.
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We say: Sunderland 1-1 Crystal Palace
This is a crucial match in the seasons of both these teams, and it could go either way. Both are in poor form heading into the match, but have positives to draw on from their most recent displays. It is too close to call, so we're going down the middle for a draw.
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