Dugout Discussion – Crystal Palace vs Southampton

After Bournemouth edged past Brighton at the Vitality last night, Gameweek 5 continues with seven Saturday fixtures to entertain us.

To get us underway, Crystal Palace take on Southampton at 12.30pm in Roy Hodgson’s first match at the helm.

With no goals and no clean sheets in their four fixtures under Frank de Boer, the only way is up for the Eagles.

And with clashes against both Manchester clubs and Chelsea in the subsequent three Gameweeks, they desperately need a result.

Encouragingly for Palace, Southampton conceded more headed attempts than any other side in the opening four Gameweeks.

This could potentially be the perfect time for Christian Benteke to break his scoring duck for the season – indeed, over 46,000 FPL managers have captained the Belgian, who netted twice against the Saints in the corresponding match last term.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek owners can breathe a sigh of relief as the on-loan midfielder recovers from injury to be handed a first start since Gameweek 2.

After failing to score in three of their first four matches under Mauricio Pellegrino, our faith in the visitors is starting to wane.

Manolo Gabbiadini owners will now surely be looking for an exit route as he drops to the bench ahead of next week’s clash with Man United, with Shane Long handed a first start of the season.