Crystal Palace will be looking to continuing their good form under new manager Alan Pardew when they host an inconsistent Everton side on Saturday afternoon. Since the arrival of Pardew from Newcastle United at the beginning of January The Eagles have been on a fine run of form with four consecutive victories, a victory in this match would see Palace jump above their opponents into 12th place in the Premier League table and will be confident after recording two 3-2 victories in the last two meetings, the latest in the reverse fixture back in September.
Everton are on the complete opposite end of the scale as the Merseyside team are on a run of six games without a win; the last of which was in mid-December with a 3-1 victory over strugglers QPR. Without FA Cup commitments manager Roberto Martinez took his players to Doha for a warm weather training camp to help boost morale and confidence ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park. They might be in a bad patch of form currently but Everton haven’t lost in their last five away games and have won four of their last six games away to Palace in all competitions.
New midfield signing Jordan Mutch is expected to make his debut for Palace after completing his move from QPR earlier in the week, however fans may have to wait slightly longer to catch a glimpse of fellow new signing Shola Ameobi as the striker needs to regain match fitness after leaving Turkish side Gaziantep in December. Winger Jerome Thomas will be unavailable after picking up a minor knock and Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak are still on international duty with Congo and Australia respectively. Martinez will be hoping to welcome back James McCarthy (hamstring), Darren Gibson (knee) and Sylvain Distin (groin) for the trip to London. Belgian forward Kevin Mirallas is also expected to return after he was substituted at half-time in the 0-0 with West Brom with a hamstring injury.
Tim Howard (leg), Leon Osman (foot) and Steven Pienaar (knee) remain on the sidelines for the visitors, meaning that The Toffees will not be up to full strength ahead of kick-off; giving the hosts a slight advantage on paper.