Palace Preview? Can whites' shoot down high flying Eagles?
Friday, 23rd Nov 2012 08:08

Leeds entertain Ian Holloway's table topping Crystal Palace side on Saturday and it is fair to say the club are in a much happier state of mind following events of the last 48 hours.

Some positive news on the takeover and the arrival of two late emergency loan signings mean there will be a renewed zest about Elland Road just two weeks after the categoric 1-6 drubbing by Watford.

Neil Warnock will be without suspended ex Portsmouth duo Luke Varney and Jason Pearce, both sitting out due to three match bans. Many fans will be relieved to see Varney unavailable, arguably Pearce's loss is much more significant and the smart money will be on Swansea loanee Alan Tate lining up alongside either Tom Lees or Lee Peltier, my hopes would be on the latter as I am yet to be impressed by Peltier so far this season. The downside of giving Lees the nod would be Peltier could revert into one of the full back positions where I think he is actually even more of a liability. in midfield, despite the horrific injury picked up by Rodolph Austin, Warnock has plenty of options, one may include giving his second late loan signing Jerome Thomas from West Brom a start. Ryan Hall could also be involved against one of his former clubs. Personally I'd like to see El Hadji Diouf drop into midfield as I feel he is far more effective on the flanks and the pairing up front with Luciano Becchio has not worked, Becchio enduring a goal drought of late as his form has slumped like ours as a team.

Dominic Poleon will be pushing for a start. Ross McCormack had a cameo appearance at Millwall last weekend but like Dom, who came back from a loan spell at Bury, I reckon Rosco will start the game on the subs bench.

McCormack was on the verge of joining Palace last summer, thankfully we somehow managed to keep his services largely due to the "investment" from GFH Capital and tomorrows attendance will be an interesting barometer as to the impact the news of their impending takeover has had on the fans who have stayed away in recent weeks.

As well as the much hyped Wilfred Zaha, Leeds will have to keep an eye on free scoring Glenn Murray who has found the net 15 times for the Eagles.

If it was any other opposition, I'd be predicting a narrow 2-1 win for Leeds buoyed by the good news off the park but given the quality of the opposition who have not lost in the league since August I'm predicting a 2-2 draw.

Photo: Action Images

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