Injuries are having a big affect on team selection at the moment. Junior Stanislas is now out with a knee injury and Adam Smith was still wearing a knee brace last week so is unlikely to be available until May. Tyrone Mings trained, but is probably is still a little way away from making a return with a back injury and Lys Mousset trained, but had an illness last week.
The good news is that Simon Francis is likely to be available. Bournemouth have not won a Premier League game without him, which stresses how important he is to have around. It’s a psychological thing, but if the team believes they can win with Simon then it is clearly better for him to play to give other players that confidence.
It may also be hard for Eddie Howe to ignore the calls to play Jermain Defoe from the start as he has that twinkle about him that is scoring goals, whereas Callum Wilson has found the ball hasn’t fallen for him in recent games - no goals in seven.
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Jermain Defoe is looking eager to get goals and last time he played against Palace he scored a brace and one spectacular goal. Just having him on the pitch will put Palace a little more on the back foot, and it’s important that Bournemouth have a player that the opposition fear a little. Defoe will give a shot a go whenever he sees the goal. Bournemouth’s strikers have not been doing that, so it is a good time for Eddie Howe to trust in a player that has the experience to score goals at the most important time of the season. Defoe is ready to go to work and Howe should not leave him on the bench for the run-in.
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| AFCB Subs: Boruc, B Smith, Arter, Surman, Pugh, Mousset, Wilson |
StrataBet records that Bournemouth gave scored 40 goals this season at an average of 1.25 goals a game, whereas Crystal Palace have 33 goals at 1.03 per game. Conceding goals has seen AFCB average 1.56 goals a game and Palace are conceding at a rate of 1.53 goals a game. StrataBet predict a draw for this match.
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