A solid and entertaining 3-0 win against Preston North End on Sunday saw Bristol City finish 4th in The Championship league table, setting up a tense play-off semi final against Crystal Palace. The two-legged tie will test Bristol City's Premier League credentials as Palace were the only side in the play off spaces who beat City this season. A 2-0 win at Selhurst Park was followed by a controversial 1-1 draw at Ashton Gate for Neil Warnock's side.
Warnock, who has proved a resounding success at Palace has taken the Eagles from relegation battlers to promotion favourites via the play-offs in a matter of months. The ex Sheffield United manager has been quick to quash the 'favourites' tag placed upon them by bookmakers and pundits alike. He said " I've seen the odds and I think it is an absolute joke that they see us as favourites for the play-offs. How does that work? We just went to Hull and got beat 2-1, and in all fairness it could have been more - and that was just a couple of weeks ago. We've got such a
small and young squad. Hull have to be the favourites."
The matches between the two sides this season did not pass without incident, Gary Johnson and his side accused Crystal Palace players of 'sledging' at Selhurst Park, a tactic Warnock's sides have been accused of in the past, as Palace physically overawed City in a 2-0 win. The tie at Ashton Gate was memorable for Carl Fletcher's admirable man marking job on Nick Carle which subdued the influential playmaker in the first half. The second half came to life with a Palace goal from teenager Hills, Bradley Orr's missed penalty and subsequent rebound and Jamie McCombe's last minute equaliser, which was scored half a minute over the allocated injury time. As McCombe celebrated in front of the Atyeo Stand, with a hard earned point intact Warnock was left to vent his anger. " In the first half he gave one minute of added time and blew up after exactly one minute when we were attacking outside their box, in the second half he gave four minutes and they scored after four minutes and 55 seconds. I think it was totally out of order."
HOW THEY LINE UP
With the past matches now history, and the prize even greater, Bristol City will need to hold up to Crystal Palace's physicality, mind games and team spirit. Currently in great form, Palace have not lost at home in 6 matches, and will be pushing to make it 7. With James Scowcroft out injured until recently, Warnock has employed pacy wingers Scott Sinclair and Victor Moses with Clinton Morrison profiting from the chances created by the youthful pair. The football has improved aesthetically, whilst the back four have stayed as resolute as before. Scowcroft has however recovered from injury and was an unused substitute in the 5-0 thumping of Burnley at the weekend.
In this first leg at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace are expected to use a 4-4-2 with Julian Speroni in goal, who despite still struggling with claiming high balls under pressure is a good shot stopper who has kept plenty of clean sheets this season.
At right full back Danny Butterfield has already won promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs and his experience could prove invaluable. At left back is the no nonsense Clint Hill who will be in charge of keeping David Noble quiet. The centre half pairing will probably not include Matt Lawrence as he recovers from injury, so Portuguese Jose Fonte, on loan from Benfica will partner captain Mark Hudson, who scored in this fixture earlier in the season at centre half.
On the right of midfield will be Tom Soares, who scored last Sunday, on the left will be on loan Scott Sinclair, who is a former Bristol Rovers youth product with a bright future. In the centre is the highly respected pairing of Ben Watson and Sean Derry, two more members of the squad that won the playoffs for Palace a few years back.
In attack is top scorer Clinton Morrison, who with 16 goals already will be looking to put one over his sister's boyfriend - Marvin Elliott. He will be partnered by England under 17 international Victor Moses, who despite his tender age is producing performances that has wowed his manager and opposition alike.
Speroni
Butterfield Hudson Fonte Hill
Soares Watson Derry Sinclair
Moses Morrison
CITY NEWS
On the eve of the biggest match in many of Bristol City players careers, nerves will be turning into adrenaline and adrenaline into the biggest possible performance. The pressure of such an occasion is huge, but with the underdog tag placed on them , they will look to rise above and claim a result at Selhurst Park so they can finish the job at Ashton Gate. Crystal Palace are going to come out of the blocks similar to how Stoke City did at the Britannia Stadium a few weeks back. If City can weather the storm better than they did that day, it could be a tight affair with City coming back to Bristol with a positive result.
Having played Preston North End off the park on Sunday and the return to form of our expansive attacking options in David Noble, Lee Trundle and Nicky Carle, and a re-energised Marvin Elliott, Bristol City have every chance of doing what they couldn't in the open season, beating Crystal Palace. Steve Brooker is hoping to be fit enough for a place on the bench and Lee Johnson came through his substitutes appearance on Sunday unscathed. Dele Adebola returns to Selhurst Park to face his former side, in what is likely to be an unchanged side.
Basso
Orr McCombe Carey McAllister
Noble Elliott Carle McIndoe
Trundle Adebola
C'mon the Reds!!!
Ross Verbals
No comments:
Post a Comment