Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of Saturday’s three Premier League three o’clock kick-offs, the most important of which is Crystal Palace vs Luton Town.
With Everton trailing in the lunchtime kick-off at Old Trafford, there appears a chance for Luton to cut the deficit to Sean Dyche’s side. For Palace, this is Oliver Glasner’s second home league match in charge since replacing Roy Hodgson. Palace were 3-0 winners against 10-man Burnley in his first, before surrendering a lead late on in defeat at Spurs. No shame there really, and Palace will have targeted today’s fixture as a must-win. Three points for Palace would take them 11 points clear of Luton which, given possible points deductions to come for Everton and Nottingham Forest, would surely see them safe.
While it may not be the most appetising fixture on the calendar, Luton have provided entertainment value and their games tend to involve big swings in momentum.
Glasner told a press conference: “They are very physical, very aggressive in scoring, and they also have their way of playing that made them successful for many years, and you won’t change it from one week to another.
“So we expect them to play like they always play – with a lot of physicality, a lot of intensity, always pressing, always duels, but of course, then it’s up to us to create space.
“The difficulty is to find the space because you are always under pressure, but if you find it you have opportunities to score.”
Elsewhere, injury-hit Wolves face a tricky home match against Fulham, who are more comfortable in mid-table than many people anticipated following the loss of Aleksandr Mitrovic. Sheffield United also travel to Bournemouth looking to respond to Monday’s six-goal shellacking by Arsenal, but are likely to be on the back foot once more vs Andoni Iraola’s aggressive side.
Full team news from around the grounds shortly.