Dugout Discussion – Crystal Palace vs Hull City

Sunday’s events begin at Selhurst Park in an encounter that’s crucial from a Premier League perspective but offers only partial Fantasy interest.

Following Swansea City’s victory at Sunderland on Saturday, relegation-threatened Crystal Palace and Hull City will go into the noon kick-off decidedly edgy, with the home side likely to be set up to avoid defeat, while the Tigers will surely need to snatch all three points.

Palace’s Wilfried Zaha is the most owned outfield player on show.

Still part of 12% of squads, the winger has nonetheless been shed by over 226,000 FPL managers over the past three Gameweeks following a dismal run of just seven points from his last five starts. That spell followed huge investment ahead of his two fixtures over Double Gameweek 34 which saw him produce a pair of 1-point returns.

Eagles boss Sam Allardyce will certainly look to Zaha to inspire his side today, along with striker Christian Benteke. The Belgian has followed a similar pattern to Zaha – spiking in ownership ahead of Gameweek 34, only to lose over 183,000 owners over the last two Gameweeks.

Benteke and his remaining owners will take some comfort from the fact that Hull City have shipped 13 goals from corners and the same number of headed goals – in both cases the most conceded in the Premier League.

But Palace have also shown fragility at set-pieces – they have also allowed 13 goals this season – a factor which could be exposed by Marco Silva’s visitors.