Crystal Palace vs Fulham preview, team news, stats, prediction, kick-off time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Crystal Palace vs Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday (kick-off 12pm).

Team news

Roy Hodgson still is without Wilfried Zaha for Crystal Palace but the forward has started training again with a rehab specialist. He is hopeful Zaha will be fit to play some part next weekend.

Palace's injury crisis has shown no signs of abating as Nathaniel Clyne has joined their lengthy list of absentees but Jeff Schlupp and Connor Wickham have returned to training but the Fulham game will come too soon.

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Aleksandar Mitrovic is back for Fulham after self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 but Tom Cairney who has been sidelined since December with a knee injury is out.

How to follow

Follow Crystal Palace vs Fulham in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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Jones Knows prediction

Quite how Crystal Palace are 10 points from safety is one of football's great mysteries. In their last four games, most of it without Wilfried Zaha, they have somehow picked up six points despite registering a total expected goals figure of 0.86. It's probably saved their season as they don't need to waft outside off stump in order to pick up points to stave off relegation now. Roy Hodgson's men can block, block, block.

I'm convinced Fulham are the more accomplished side of these two, especially with Zaha still ruled out, yet Scott Parker's men still can't be trusted to pick up consistent wins at this level. This could be a similar tale to Palace's win over Brighton where Hodgson's boys will look second best for large parts but still come away with a result. I'll play the draw.

One area Fulham can be trusted is their ability to get Ademola Lookman into shooting positions from outside the box. This month, only James Maddison and Bruno Fernandes are taking more shots from outside the penalty area than Lookman (7), who is quickly becoming a shoot-on-sight merchant.

Palace, likely to defend deep, have faced 128 shots from outside the box - only Sheffield United have faced more, so I'm keen to back Lookman to hit the target from range at 9/4 with Sky Bet.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-1

BETTING ANGLE: Ademola Lookman to have one or more shot on target from outside the area (9/4 with Sky Bet)

Last time out...

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Opta stats

• Crystal Palace have won each of their last three Premier League games against Fulham; only versus Burnley (January 2018 to November 2019), Leicester (December 2017 to February 2019) and Stoke (March 2015 to September 2016) have they ever won four consecutive meetings in the competition.
• Fulham have never previously lost four consecutive league meetings with Crystal Palace; they last avoided defeat to the Eagles in the Premier League in May 2014 (1-1), and last beat them in the competition in October 2013 (4-1).
• Only against Wimbledon have Crystal Palace ever won four or more consecutive top-flight London derby meetings, beating them five times in a row from September 1989 to August 1991 under Steve Coppell.
• Crystal Palace won their last Premier League match against Brighton 2-1 - the Eagles had just three shots in the match while facing 25 in return, managed just two touches in the opposition box and had just 25.5% possession.
• Fulham are unbeaten in their last six Premier League away matches, although five have ended level (W1). They have never gone seven such matches unbeaten in the competition.
• Fulham have won two of their last three Premier League games (D1), as many as they had in their previous 24 in the competition (D9 L13). However, the Cottagers remain winless in their last 20 Premier League London derby matches (D3 L17).
• No team has conceded more goals from outside the box than Crystal Palace in the Premier League this season (9). Indeed, it's more than double the amount they shipped from outside the box last term (4), with only four sides conceding fewer such goals in 2019-20.

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