Ayew looks to fix Palace striker shortage against in-form Hornets

Crystal Palace welcome Watford to Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon as they look to continue their good home form against this weekend’s opponents.

Roy Hodgson’s side have won five of their last seven home meetings against the Hornets, including the last two. There are currently six places separating the two with Watford in eighth whilst Palace sit down in 14th.

Both teams come into the clash off the back of FA Cup wins against lower league opposition. Palace triumphed late against Grimsby while Javi Gracia’s men dispatched non-league Woking.

The home side’s  FA Cup match-winner was Jordan Ayew, Eagles fans will be keen for the former Aston Villa man to keep up his recent form. The Ghanaian has scored three goals in his last four starts against this weekend’s opposition.

The south London side have struggled for goals from their strikers in the past few seasons, with Wilfried Zaha often carrying the burden. This was evidenced by Serbian midfielder Luka Milivojevic finishing top scorer for the 2017/18 season with ten, seven of those coming from the penalty spot.

Belgium target man Christian Benteke has found it notoriously difficult to find the net and has struggled with injuries, whilst Alexander Sorloth is set to be loaned out in the January transfer window.

Therefore, there is the potential to establish a starting berth for Ayew as Palace hope to finally come to a solution to their striker woes whilst the Swansea loanee looks to stop manager Hodgson dipping into the transfer market this month for a new frontman.

Hodgson remains without former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Benteke (knee) whilst Pape Souare suffered a dislocated shoulder in their win over Grimsby and may remain sidelined for up to two months.

Watford will be encouraged by August’s Premier League fixture between these sides which finished in a 2-1 win to the Hornets. Goals from Roberto Pereyra and Jose Holebas secured what was Watford’s third straight win which saw them climb to third in the table.

A draw at Selhurst Park would secure Watford their 14th away point of the season, a total that would equal their haul from the whole of their 2017/18 campaign.

Javi Gracia welcomed back Andre Gray and Christian Kabasele into first team training this week meaning Sebastian Prödl (knee) is the only Watford player to remain sidelined.

“We have 26 players ready,” said Gracia ahead of Saturday’s fixture. “This is good news for us.”

Prediction: Both set of fans will come into the fixture with an expectation of a good result and the spoils could well be shared between the sides.

Crystal Palace 1 Watford 1