Palace v Gillingham

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Andy Johnson

Team news

Johnson had to come off with a twisted ankle in Palace's 2-1 defeat at Derby last weekend and he faces a late fitness test.

Dogie Freedman, in good form following a brace for the reserves on Wednesday night is likely to replace him in attack.

Midfielder Aki Riihilahti is out for three weeks with a calf injury, also sustained at Derby. Darren Powell won't play as he is about to join Steve Coppell's Reading.

Gillingham have a nightmare injury list. John Hills, Jason Brown, Nyron Nosworthy, Ian Cox, Chris Hope, Mark Saunders and Darius Henderson are all injured.

Gillingham - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
20th	31	10	7	14	37

Full league table

Gillingham - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	1	1	3	2	5

Full form table

Our home record v Gillingham

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
32	16	8	8	72	41

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
25/10/2003	League	Gillingham	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
04/05/2003	League	Gillingham	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
29/09/2002	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Gillingham
16/01/2002	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 1	Gillingham
21/11/2001	League	Gillingham	3 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

One to watch

Patrick Agyemang

Gillingham's top scorer

Mamady Sidibe - 4 goals

Gillingham's bad boy

Andy Hessenthaler - 10 0

Palace old boys

Ian Cox - 08/03/1994 to 27/03/1996

Having been thrown off the Wimbledon Doomtrain at very high speed and onto the steady plains of Gillingham for an incredibly cheap £150,000, Patrick Agyemang has bought to Gillingham the kind of flair, skill and finishing that the Gills had long been hoping for. He has more than filled the boots of his predecessor Marlon King, whom departed at christmas, bound for relegation threatened Forest and also whom was adored by many Gillingham fans for many years. Now the fans have a new darling in Agyemang and he has been quick to assert himself as such. Although only scoring once in his five games for Gilingham thus far, he has created a number of chances and goals, and has given the Gills the kind of firepower they need to stabilise themselves in this division. Agyemang has proved his worth already this season by scoring 7 goals for relegation bound Wimbledon. Not bad considering they had only scored 26 goals at that point and since Agyemang's departure from Wimbledon they have only scored twice in six matches, which also shows what he brings to the Gillingham squad. Hudson will not be allowed to make the same mistake against Agyemang as he did against Derby last weekend, otherwise we will be punished. Other players that will cause problems for the Palace team include Tommy Johnson and Mamady Sidibe both of which have scored 4 goals this season Sidibe's goals coming from 30 matches and Johnson's contributions from 19 matches. They will also be looking to increase their tallies as well.

Last meeting

Gillingham 1-0 Palace

Saturday October 25 2003

Gillingham: Jason Brown, Nosworthy, Ashby, Hope (sent off 54), Cox, Hessenthaler (Perpetuini, 79), Smith, Southall, Hills, Shaw (Saunders, 82), Wallace (Sidibe, 71)

Subs not used: James, Spiller

Bookings: Cox, Smith

Goal: Perpetuini 83

Palace: Myhre, Fleming (Borrowdale, 75), Symons, Popovic, Smith, Derry, Riihilahti, Black (Routledge, 65), Johnson, Freedman, Shipperley

Subs not used: Berthelin, Hughes, Watson

Booking: Riihilahti