Crystal Palace Season Preview - Eagles looking to take flight once more
Roy Hodgson had something of an impossible task when he took over the Crystal Palace reins in September and with the Eagles rooted to the foot of the table after seven games with seven defeats to their name, the south London side seemed doomed. However, he navigated Palace to safety with room to spare and the experienced manager will hope to take the team to the next level, with a top half finish a step in the right direction.
One to Watch - Aaron Wan-Bissaka
The youngster has featured prominently in pre-season, with Joel Ward forced to watched on from the sidelines. Aaron Wan-Bissaka made just seven Premier League appearances last season, but impressed to earn a WhoScored.com rating of 7.52 from his sporadic outings. Now set to be first choice right-back in the coming campaign, the 20-year-old will look to repay the faith shown in him by Hodgson and shore up the defence.
Best Signing - Vicente Guaita
A key area that needed strengthening in the off-season was in goal, with Hodgson acting quickly to add to the squad between the sticks. The Palace boss had been keen on Vicente Guaita in January, but had to wait until the summer to land the Spaniard and it looks to be worth the wait. Former side Getafe conceded the third fewest goals (33) in La Liga last season, while the 31-year-old’s save success rate (77.5%) was a third best in Spain’s top tier. He’s a significant upgrade on Wayne Hennessey and fan favourite Julian Speroni, that’s for sure.
We're delighted to announce Vicente Guaita has joined #CPFC 🦅 on a three-year deal!
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) June 8, 2018
More info 👉 https://t.co/yQLyDf3jS8 pic.twitter.com/eRflocsni5
Area of Weakness
Crystal Palace’s return of 45 goals scored wasn’t the worst return by any stretch, but that central midfielder and penalty taker Luka Milivojevic was their top scorer with 10 league goals suggests a problem in the attacking third. Wilfried Zaha bagged nine goals, yet Palace’s misfiring frontmen need to buck up their ideas to ease the burden on the Ivorian. Christian Benteke scored just three league goals last term, while only the Premier League’s top scorer Mohamed Salah (23) missed more clear-cut goalscoring chances than the Belgian (20). If they are to build upon a commendable campaign, the forwards must improve. However, Alexander Sorloth's return to fitness is a boost for Hodgson.
Prediction / Best Bet
Palace ended the season strongly, enjoying a six-match unbeaten run to round off the campaign, winning four of those, and if they can carry their good form into the coming season, then they’ll fancy their chances of making a stronger start than they did last term. They still need to make additions to the squad, with Max Meyer now a rumoured target for Palace to cover for Yohan Cabaye’s summer exit, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been linked with a return on loan, but Hodgson has a settled squad and if they can deter potential suitors from moving on Zaha, then they’ll fancy their chances of a top half finish, which they would have managed had the season started when Hodgson took charge. A number of bookmakers have them at 3.25 to secure a top-10 finish and that’s well worth a look in.
