Crystal Palace and Burnley will go into matchday four of the Barclays Premier League season as the league's bottom sides, propping up the early table with a point each and both sides having a goal difference of -3. They also both recorded their only point of the season in their last games, with Palace scraping a 3-3 draw away at Newcastle and Burnley holding Louis Van Gaal's crisis-stricken Manchester Uniited to a 0-0 at Turf Moor. The league table at this point means absolutely nothing, but make no mistake; this could be a vital game at the bottom end.
Both sides could be sporting new-look teams come 3pm tomorrow, with some money having been splashed about on transfer deadline day. For the hosts, James McArthur, Kevin Doyle, Zeki Fryers and the returning Andrew Johnson are all available and in contention for the starting line-up, while Joe Ledley returns to fitness having missed their last two games. Neil Warnock will, however, have to sweat on the fitness of Marouane Chamakh, who is struggling with a hamstring injury. Dwight Gayle, with eight goals in his last six games in all competitions, will be ready to fill the void.
Meanwhile, Burnley's main man Danny Ings is back in the frame to start having overcome a recent illness, with new faces George Boyd, Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane all available as well; though the latter two youngsters are unlikely to be thrown straight into first-team action. Other than the reintroduction of Ings, Sean Dyche may well look to keep an unchanged side from that which held Manchester United two weeks ago.
Though these two teams have never met in the Premier League, they have four top-flight meetings between them, with Burnley winning all four. However, Selhurst Park has been something of a bogey ground in recent years for the Clarets, having failed to win there in the last nine meetings. A memorable recent meeting came in the 2012-13 season in which Palace were promoted, where the Eagles triumphed 4-3 thanks to a brace from Wilfried Zaha. Zaha made his return to the starting line-up against Newcastle and scored the late equaliser at St James', so if he can return to his best form he could be an important weapon in Palace's arsenal if they are to avoid relegation.
Mike Dean will be this game's referee, having officiated in three Premier League matches already this season, issuing 14 yellow cards and a red along the way. Though neither side has covered themselves in glory thus far this season, morale-boosting draws last time out means this game could come down to whoever can carry their momentum forwards - if their recent meetings are anything to go by, goals shouldn't be in short supply.