Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest Preview
Posted on | October 27, 2008 | No Comments
Despite only picking up one point from their last couple of games, Crystal Palace’s form has been quite good of late and they’ve been gradually making a march up the league. It couldn’t be any different for opponents Nottingham Forest though, who lost yet another game at the weekend and are now six points adrift from safety.
Palace may have just lost to Birmingham and only got a point at Blackpool, but on the whole the last month has been quite the success for Neil Warnock. The Eagles had an abysmal start to the campaign and after being in the relegation zone for a few weeks, recent form has propelled them up the league and they now sit in 16th – four points off the play offs and four points away from the bottom three. A win against Forest could lift the Selhurst Park outfit into the top half and with Warnock being something of a specialist at getting sides promoted through his career, he’ll be confident that he’ll be able to get his side into the play offs.
As for Forest, it just gets worse for Colin Calderwood. Many Forest fans were hopeful that the two home games last week could finally bring some much needed points to the City Ground, yet as it turns out they only managed the one. A defeat to Cardiff on Saturday meant that Calderwood’s men were sent further adrift at the bottom and even at this stage of the season, six points is a lot to make up. Despite investing heavily over the summer in attacking options no player has hit any decent form as of yet and with Crystal Palace being renowned as an organized side, it’s going to be very difficult for the visitors. On the positives, their defence has improved slightly and they’re not leaking as many in as before, yet the points aren’t coming and Calderwood is starting to become under a lot of pressure by frustrated supporters.
The backlog of fixtures looks to have taken its toll on Neil Warnock’s side with the Eagles having more than a few injury worries. Jose Fonte looks set to miss out with a back problem, while Alan Lee, James Scowcroft and Calvin Andrews are other players that are struggling and probably won’t feature. As for Nottingham Forest, they’ll be without Carl Fletcher due to the terms of his loan contract which doesn’t allow him to play against parent club Crystal Palace. Elsewhere, Kelvin Wilson won’t play due to a knee problem, which should probably pave the way for Luke Chambers to deputize.
In terms of a prediction, it just has to be a home win. Forest have been dismal this season and with Palace being so strong at the back, you can only go for an Eagles victory – 2-0.
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