Crystal Palace - Stoke City Preview: Eagles look to put league form aside in Cup

Crystal Palace will be hoping to put their current league woes aside as they welcome Stoke City to Selhurst Park in the FA Cup fourth round.

Form

Palace extended their winless Premier League run last week against Tottenham Hotspur, losing 3-1 despite going a goal ahead thanks to Jan Vertonghen's own goal. Coincidentally, Palace's last league victory came against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium when a late Chung-yong Lee goal gave Palace all three points.

Stoke will play their second domestic cup game in a week having played Liverpool in the League Cup on Tuesday night. The Potters won the match 1-0 but the aggregate scoreline of 1-1 meant the tie went to penalties, and they eventually lost thanks to Joe Allen's winning spot-kick.

Both sides won 2-1 away from home in the third round. Palace won an all-Premier League tie at Southampton thanks to goals from Joel Ward and Wilfried Zaha, while Stoke knocked out League One opponents Doncaster Rovers, with goals coming from Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters.

The meeting at Selhurst will mark just the third time the sides have met in the competition. The first FA Cup tie between the two clubs was in the third round in January 1989 which Stoke won 1-0. Palace reached the final the following year. The second tie between the two clubs was once again in the third round in January 2013, and Palace were beaten again, albeit taking their then-higher-division opponents to a replay after a goalless draw at Selhurst. Stoke won the replay at the Britannia 4-1 after extra-time.

Since the last FA Cup tie between Palace and Stoke, the Eagles' fortunes have vastly improved. They were promoted via the play-off's just four months later and currently have a good record against Mark Hughes' team. Stoke have won just one meeting since Palace were promoted in 2013, with Alan Pardew's side winning three times. They meet again at Selhurst in the penultimate game of the season.

Palace have suffered a huge dip in form since December's meeting at the Britannia Stadium and have not won any of the six league games that followed. The Eagles currently sit in eleventh place in the league, having reached as high as second in the first month of the season. Stoke sit just two places above Palace and the game will be tightly contested, with both managers expected to field strong teams.

Pardew expecting a motivated Stoke side

Palace boss Pardew was questioned on whether his side faced an advantage due to the fact Stoke had to play an extra game in the week, but he said that midweek games can often help the players to be more focused due to the quick transition between matches.

Mark Hughes also faced questions about the opposition and spoke about one of his former players, Emmanuel Adebayor, who signed for Palace on Wednesday. Hughes worked with Adebayor at Manchester City and singled out the Togolese striker as a threat to his Stoke side, despite Pardew claiming Saturday's game could come round too early for Adebayor to make a significant impact.

Mark Hughes has singled out Palace new boy Adebayor as a threat | Photo: cpfc.co.uk

Team News

Yannick Bolasie and Bakary Sako remained sidelined through injury for Palace while Connor Wickham received FA punishment for his alleged elbow on Vertonghen last week. Wickham will start a three-game ban for violent conduct. Emmanuel Adebayor could make the bench but is unlikely to start having only signed on Wednesday. Dwight Gayle is still a doubt and is the subject of serious interest from Swansea City.

Charlie Adam and Ryan Shawcross will miss the game for Stoke through injury while Marko Arnautovic is doubtful.