Patrick Vieira is not expected to make any changes to his starting XI when Crystal Palace take on Brentford this afternoon in west London.
The Frenchman made four changes to his team for the mid-week visit to Carrow Road to face Norwich and seemed largely happy with his team’s performance despite drawing the game 1-1.
Vicente Guaita is set to continue between the sticks and make his 21st league appearance of the campaign while Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi should partner each other at the heart of the defence in front of him.
Tyrick Mitchell had a brilliant game at Norwich and was effective in both boxes. He should start once again against the Bees where he’ll face a tough task up against Sergi Canos or Bryan Mbeumo.
By contrast, Joel Ward struggled against the Canaries and was partly at fault for their opener inside the first minute. However, with Nathan Ferguson set for up to six weeks on the sidelines it’s unlikely he’ll be dropped and his experience should keep him in the team ahead of Nathaniel Clyne once again.
James McArthur was spotted warming up vigorously at half-time at Carrow Road but did not feature. With lots of games scheduled in the next two months, Vieira will want to get him up to speed but might name him on the bench again for tomorrow’s trip to Brentford with a view to getting him minutes as a substitute this time.
That should leave Will Hughes, Jeffrey Schlupp and Conor Gallagher free to continue in the midfield three together once again.
The trio have been Vieira's preferred choice while both McArthur and Cheikhou Kouyate have been absent and provide Palace with a high-energy midfield which will be useful against Brentford’s 3-5-2 formation.
Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise have both done enough to stay in their places on the wing, with the former scoring a spectacular goal against Norwich that was set up by Olise.
In the central striker spot, Vieira has recently kept faith in Jean-Philippe Mateta, and on Friday he praised the forward’s mobility and desire to get in behind opposition defences.
His other options are the very capable Odsonne Edouard and Christian Benteke, though Mateta might well get the nod to start once again at in west London.
Crystal Palace predicted XI: Guaita; Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, Ward; Hughes, Schlupp, Gallagher; Zaha, Mateta, Olise.
