As Dean Smith alluded to in his post-Everton press conference, Jack Grealish (£7.5m) is on the Aston Villa bench for the second consecutive gameweek.
Having pushed the boat out by bringing the England international after 72 minutes on Thursday, Smith may look for a longer stretch from Grealish at Selhurst Park.
Tyrone Mings (£5.4m) is unexpectedly absent from the Aston Villa squad, having picked up a knock as Smith’s men drew 0-0 with Everton during Triple Gameweek 35.
“Him and Emi [Martinez] collided knees but he’s a tough old cookie and should be OK.” – Dean Smith
Matt Cash (£5.0m) is a more predictable absentee, with Ahmed Elmohamady (£4.2m) drafted in at right-back.
Ollie Watkins (£6.5m) makes an immediate return to the Villa XI after a one-match ban, with budget forward Keinan Davis (£4.2m) dropping to the bench. Ross Barkley (£5.8m) is also replaced in Smith’s starting line-up by Jacob Ramsey (£4.5m).
The big Crystal Palace team news is that Vicente Guaita (£4.8m) finds himself on the bench as Jack Butland (£4.5m) earns his first Premier League minutes of the season.
Unexpected line-up changes, such as this decision from Roy Hodgson, could become commonplace for the final two gameweeks of the season as teams find themselves safe from relegation or with greater priorities in the close season.
Tyrick Mitchell (£3.8m) makes a fourth successive start at left-back for Palace, with Patrick van Aanholt (£5.4m) not in the matchday squad due to personal reasons.
Butland’s inclusion is one of five changes made by Hodgson – who appears to have set his team out in a 4-3-3 system – as Gary Cahill (£4.5m), James McCarthy (£4.3m), Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.3m) and Andros Townsend (£5.5m) all come in.
Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Butland; Mitchell, Cahill, Kouyaté, Ward; Schlupp, McCarthy, Eze; Zaha, Benteke, Townsend.
Aston Villa XI (4-2-3-1): Martínez; Targett, Hause, Konsa, Elmohamady; McGinn, D Luiz; B Traoré, Ramsey, El Ghazi; Watkins.
3 years, 1 day agoMitchell's 13 staring at me from the bench. In a low scoring GW, when a lot of people could not field 11!