Can Crystal Palace Finish In The Premier League’s Top Six?
Crystal Palace are in the middle of a purple patch. The Eagles are currently flying high in sixth place in the English Premier League and are aiming for a high finish come May.
But can they really hold on to a Top Six finish?
Well I don’t think I’ll be running out to bet on that happening but you can find odds of 6/1 on Palace finishing in one of those illustrious first six positions. You’d probably be better off looking at casino.com and their deals for better chances at winning.
That said Palace obviously have a chance and they’re start of the season has been terrific.
There are a lot of positives surrounding Selhurst Park at the moment.
So much so that their boss Alan Pardew has been tipped for the England managers job, if it becomes available in the summer.
Pardew has done a sterling job since leaving Newcastle United for the Eagles back in January. The club’s squad have come together and are now tactically assured and hard to breakdown.
The Palace boss has enjoyed a 53% win rate since taking over and that has included a famous away win over current champions Chelsea and also inflicting the first defeat on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool!
The pace of forwards such as Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie is such a huge commodity in modern day football and they terrorise opposing defenders.
Central defender Scott Dann has also impressed this term with his commanding performances. The Liverpudlian has found the net against both Merseyside teams and teammate Dwight Gayle believes the twenty eight year old deserves an international call up.
In the summer Crystal Palace went all out, chased down and purchased French internationalist Yohan Cabaye. The midfielder who cost a reported £13m had lost his way at PSG. But Pardew was the man who got the best out of him in the Premier League with Newcastle and it was that relationship that sealed the deal.
The maestro has repaid the faith placed in him by scoring five and assisting in another. Importantly he’s also had a pass success rate of 83% in his opening fifteen league appearances for the club. Cabaye’s exceptional technique, his ability to see a key pass, his set-pieces and his vast experience playing at the top level has helped propel the Eagles up the Premier League table.
Another big plus has been that other players (often not seen as the stars) like James McArthur, Joel Ward, Jason Puncheon and Damien Delaney have also been consistent performers during this campaign. For a fantastic finish in May then that will need to continue!
Their also seems to be big plans for the January transfer window. Pardew and his board have been strongly linked with a £15m move for Marseille goalscorer Michy Batshuayi. That deal could significantly boost Palace’s chances of a high placed finish.
Now as long as Palace finish in the top ten, I think that has to be seen as a successful year. But their could be better things just around the corner.
The club are in the middle of takeover talks with an American business tycoon.
You can see the appeal. They are based in the country’s illustrious capital. They have a stadium capacity of 26,000 and they regularly get near that, so their could be room to redeveloping Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish stated in May:
“We’ve got to get it right, we’ve got a study going on at the moment – there’s a lot of working going on in the background. We need a plan for the whole stadium, bring it together and make it better and how do we keep the atmosphere when you redevelop the stadium.”
So while I think a top six finish this term could be a tough task for this current Crystal Palace side, I think with the right investment along with the current good feeling that surrounds the club we could continue to see an improving Eagles team in the Premier League.
That would be tremendous news for the clubs fans who have supported the side through thick and thin!
Posted on December 13th, 2015 by scott
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