Crystal Palace vs West Bromwich Albion. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,357.
Sunday 13 May 2018 07:24, UK
West Bromwich Albion play their final game before heading back to the Championship against in-form Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
The Baggies relegation to the second tier was confirmed after Southampton's win at Swansea on Tuesday. However, they have staged a resurgence under caretaker boss Darren Moore, winning their last two games and putting together their best unbeaten run (5) of the season.
Brentford manager Dean Smith and Moore are the frontrunners to take over as the boss.
Albion's board are keen to make the appointment as soon as possible after the season finishes, and could name the new man towards the back end of next week.
Few would have foreseen Crystal Palace's rise up the table when assessing the situation after seven games. They have become the first top-flight side in 100 years to survive after losing their opening seven matches.
Joel Ward is a fitness doubt for Crystal Palace after limping off against Stoke last weekend while Jeffrey Schlupp marked his return to fitness with a substitute appearance and could be pushing for a start.
Moore may make changes for this weekend's Premier League clash against Crystal Palace following his side's relegation.
Gareth Barry (knee) and James Morrison (Achilles) remain Moore's only casualties and he admitted he may mix things up against Roy Hodgson's side.
The Eagles have kept a clean sheet in each of their last two Premier League meetings with West Brom - only against Aston Villa (2005-2014) and QPR (1994-2014) have they recorded three successive shutouts in the competition.
The Baggies have won two of their last three Premier League visits to Selhurst Park (L1), having lost their first two at the ground.
The home side has failed to score in each of the last three meetings between these sides, with Palace losing 0-1 in this exact fixture last season.
Palace have won on both occasions they've finished the Premier League campaign at home, beating Sheffield Wednesday in 1997-98 and Swansea in 2014-15.
West Brom have only won one of their previous 11 games on the final day of a Premier League campaign (D6 L4), beating Portsmouth in 2004-05 to avoid relegation.
Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last seven Premier League games (W4 D2), winning the last two in a row. They've not won three consecutively since a run of four in April 2017.
The Eagles have won 15 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season - only in 2014-15 (21) have they won more in a single campaign.
Moore has won more points for West Brom in his five games in charge this season (11) than both Alan Pardew did in 18 (8) and Tony Pulis did in 12 (10) for the Baggies.
However, West Brom have been unable to avoid relegation. If they avoid defeat here, Moore will become the third manager to have been relegated with a team at the end of a Premier League season while remaining unbeaten, after Micky Adams with Leicester in 2001-02 (four games) and Trevor Brooking with West Ham in 2002-03 (three games).
Jay Rodriguez has scored in three of his five league starts against Palace, scoring three goals (one for Southampton, two for Burnley).
This is a tough one. Darren Moore's done brilliantly, even though they've gone down in the end, but I think Palace will have too much for them and Selhurst Park will be rocking after the job Roy Hodgson's done.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-1
