Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace celebrates Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace celebrates Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner refused to term his side's meeting with fellow strugglers Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Tuesday as a relegation six-pointe...
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner refused to term his side's meeting with fellow strugglers Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Tuesday as a relegation six-pointer. (More Football News)quickwin
Palace and Ipswich are tied on nine points with an identical record of one win and six draws from 13 matches as they head into the clash at Portman Road.
However, Glasner said every match is of equal importance.
"I don't think it's a six-pointer, but it's an important game. Every single game is important," Glasner said ahead of the game.
Palace, in 17th place, have not won in four matches and face an Ipswich side, who beat Tottenham 2-1 and held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw last month.
"They have a home game, and they will want to take the three points. I think that is how they will enter the game and we will do the same. And then let's see what happens," the Austrian manager said.
"We are not pleased with the points we have. But I think we had some better performances than we had at the end of last season."
"They're a good team and it will be a good challenge."Kieran McKenna spoke to TownTV ahead of #IPSCRY under the Portman Road lights on Tuesday.
— IPSWICH TOWN (@IpswichTown) December 2, 2024Ipswich, meanwhile, have not won at home this season but will have two chances in six days to change that, with them also hosting Bournemouth on Sunday.
Their run of three unbeaten games was snapped by Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Kieran McKenna is hopeful his side will bounce back in front of their home support.
"We always made a big thing of trying to attack back-to-back home games in League One and the Championship. This is our first chance to do that in the Premier League, and we only get one more after Christmas," said McKenna.
“We want to make the most of it. We’ll have to get an awful lot of things right and not a lot wrong to get a win in either game, but that’s what we’re going to try and do."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ipswich Town - Liam Delap
Liam Delap is the top scorer for Ipswich with six goals in 13 appearances this season, with five of those goals coming in his last eight matches.
The 21-year-old was the standout star of the Tractor Boys by bagging a goal and creating an assist as they defeated Tottenham 2-1 last month.
Crystal Palace - Jean-Philippe Mateta
Jean-Philippe Mateta has bagged three goals and an assist for Crystal Palace this season as he looks to guide the Eagles into safety.
The 23-year-old French striker has scored for Palace in each of his last three league appearances against newly promoted clubs and will be hoping to match Andrew Johnson's club record from 2004-05 by getting on the scoresheet at Portman Road.
Jean-Philippe Mateta v Newcastle: 24.04.24 #CPFC pic.twitter.com/EFGDdJdGnn
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) November 27, 2024MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Palace have a fine record against Ipswich in the Premier League; they are unbeaten in all four meetings between them (W3 D1). The first of those meetings ended in a 2-0 win for the south Londoners at Portman Road in February 1995.
Indeed, Palace have lost just one of their last 11 league meetings with promoted sides (W6 D4), with their only defeat in that period coming against Luton Town last season.
Ipswich, meanwhile, are winless in their last six Premier League matches at Portman Road (D4 L2). They last endured a longer run without a home win in 2019 when they were in the Championship (eight games).
However, with Palace only winning just two of their last 19 away league matches (D8 L9), Ipswich will fancy their chances of getting out of the bottom three.
LIVE WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace win - 38.5%Ipswich Town win - 35.1%Draw - 26.4% quickwin