Striving Southampton face resilient Crystal Palace at St Mary’s Stadium

Southampton have picked up their form in recent games having won two consecutive games with Crystal Palace their next opponent who are a very resilient side.

Southampton have lifted themselves away from the drop zone with two back-to-back wins and currently sit in 14th. Crystal Palace sit in ninth not far away from the top six.

Last time out for Southampton, they pulled off a great win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Goals from Michael Obafami and Nathan Redmond securing three points for the Saints.

The Eagles were also able to secure three points against their opposition on Boxing Day who were West Ham. Robert Snodgrass gave the Hammers the lead with Cheikhou Kouyate and Jordan Ayew scoring vital goals to secure the win for Crystal Palace

Team news

Southampton will assess the condition of Shane Long, who missed the win over Chelsea because of a knee injury.

Moussa Djenepo remains out with a hamstring injury but Kevin Danso has recovered from illness.

Patrick van Aanholt sustained another hamstring problem against Chelsea, adding to Palace’s injury crisis.

Christian Benteke missed that game with a muscle problem and joins Scott Dann, Gary Cahill, Joel Ward, Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp on the injury list.

Ralph Hasenhüttl has asked for patience from the St Mary’s crowd, as his team host Crystal Palace following their sensational Boxing Day success at Chelsea.

“It’s never easy, especially when you set such a benchmark now,” he said. “We want to do it the same tomorrow. We ran a lot yesterday and covered a lot of distance – five kilometres more than the opponent.

“We spoke about wanting to show that we could do a good job for 90 minutes and I think yesterday the team did a fantastic job for 90 minutes, and this is the only way for us to be successful. It’s important we have a good recovery today, because tomorrow I want to see a team playing like they played yesterday and this is the big challenge for us, but because of the positive result the team is absolutely feeling good at the moment and that helps you.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Crystal Palace’s trip to Southampton, Roy Hodgson said he is ‘impressed’ with the Saints and drew upon his experience managing Danny Ings to praise the in-form forward.

“I’m impressed by that,” he said. “But I’m not surprised, to be fair. They’re a good team with good players. They’re organised. They’re not a team you expect to see in and around the relegation zone if we’re to be honest. So it’s not a major surprise to me but of course I take my hat off to them and congratulate them on this run of games which has lifted them so high up the table.

“I’ve always admired Danny Ings as a player. He is what you’d call a natural goalscorer. His movement in and around the penalty area is very good. When a chance comes his way, he’s got the technique to take the chance and, added to that, he’s a hard worker.”

Head-to-head

Crystal Palace have won just one of the past five league meetings (D1, L3). This fixture ended in a 1-1 draw last season, with Palace’s Wilfried Zaha both scoring and getting sent off.