Palace v Plymouth Argyle

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Andy Johnson

Team news

AJ has a hamstring injury, which forced him to pull out of this week's England squad that played Denmark.

Aki Riihilahti (calf), Danny Granville (knee) and Dougie Freedman (hamstring) could return, but Jobi McAnuff and Jon Macken (both hamstring) are doubts.

Plymouth's Tony Capaldi (back) and Nick Chadwick (knee) hope to return after missing the match against Derby. Star signing Taribo West will make his Pilgrims debut.

Plymouth Argyle - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
13th	3	1	1	1	4

Full league table

Plymouth Argyle - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
3	1	1	1	5	6

Full form table

Our home record v Plymouth Argyle

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
18	9	5	4	39	23

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
10/09/2002	League Cup	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Plymouth Argyle
22/04/1989	League	Plymouth Argyle	0 - 2	Crystal Palace
01/10/1988	League	Crystal Palace	4 - 1	Plymouth Argyle
23/04/1988	League	Plymouth Argyle	1 - 3	Crystal Palace
03/11/1987	League	Crystal Palace	5 - 1	Plymouth Argyle

All time results

One to watch

Taribo West

Plymouth Argyle's top scorer

Micky Evans - 2 goals

Plymouth Argyle's bad boy

Rufus Brevett, David Norris, Paul Wotton - 1 0

Palace old boys

None

A man of green hair, big hair, short hair, crazy hair and dreadlocks - big Taribo West was instantly recognisable in his heyday when plying his trade in Milan for both AC and Inter.

Playing in a central defence - the figure of big Taribo is a formidable one for most players to come up against. His strength from his huge frame is something he uses to great advantage when defending.

Despite his illustrious club career taking him to Milan, Kaiserslautern and Belgrade - poor old Taribo ended up in Derby of all places, no doubt there for the nearby potteries in Stoke and other Midlands tourist hotspots. His previously impressive career took something of a nosedive at Derby where he played only 20 games for the Rams in a Premiership season where they finished 17th and avoided relegation by 8 points.

Of course - West's career doesn't just stay on the domestic field - he's amassed 40 caps for the "Super Eagles" of Nigeria. Arguably Haribo's finest hour came in Nigeria's win in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games where he was part of the successful gold medal winning team.

In short, despite his somewhat strange, but quite incredible taste in hair colourants and styles - big Haribo's experience at the heart of a Plymouth defence who are faltering as of late, should limit the chances Mr Johnson, Mr Andrews and Mr Macken may have....here's hoping he has a shocker.

After all - he's played at the San Siro, Selhurst is so much more hostile, formidable and greater than that mere field in the middle of Italy's fashion capital - he won't know how to deal with it...

Last meeting

Palace 2-1 Plymouth Argyle

Tuesday September 10 2002

Palace: Kolinko, Fleming, Austin (Butterfield 46), Powell, Granville, Johnson (Frampton 117), Thomson, Mullins, Routledge, Freedman, Adebola (Black 69).

Subs not used: Cronin, Rubins.

Booking: Mullins.

Goals: Powell 22, Johnson 113.

Plymouth Argyle: Larrieu, Worrell, Coughlan, Wotton, Aljofree, Sturrock (Evans 57), Hodges, Adams, Phillips (Friio 58), Lowndes (Stonebridge 83), Lopes.

Subs not used: Beresford, McCormick.

Booking: Evans.

Goal: Sturrock 39.