Palace v Sheffield United

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Gabor Kiraly

Team news

Goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly has recovered from a chest injury and should start.

Mikele Leigertwood (ankle) and Tony Popovic (calf) return to the squad after coming through a midweek reserve game.

Forwards Andrew Johnson (knee) and Jon Macken (hamstring) are still injured.

United defenders Rob Kozluk and Craig Short are injured.

Steve Kabba and Neil Shipperley will battle it out for a place in attack.

Sheffield United - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
1st	17	13	2	2	41

Full league table

Sheffield United - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	3	2	0	10	1

Full form table

Our home record v Sheffield United

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
20	8	5	7	25	20

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
07/02/2004	League	Sheffield United	0 - 3	Crystal Palace
26/08/2003	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Sheffield United
05/04/2003	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Sheffield United
17/12/2002	League Cup	Sheffield United	3 - 1	Crystal Palace
30/11/2002	League	Sheffield United	2 - 1	Crystal Palace

All time results

One to watch

Steve Kabba

Sheffield United's top scorer

Steve Kabba - 8 goals

Sheffield United's bad boy

Chris Morgan - 5 0

Palace old boys

Neil Shipperley or Steve Kabba (probably both!)

Another week, another ex-Palace player in form due to face the Eagles. Steve Kabba has excelled since being sold incredibly cheaply by Palace a couple of year ago.

His pace is blistering, his finishing lethal, he’s everything a manager would want in a striker. His ability to turn seemingly wasted chances into goals is the sole reason why many Palace fans were sad to see him leave, and the reason why he fast became a fans’ favourite for the Blades.

Kabba has already bagged 8 goals this season and is one the reasons why Warnock’s men sit proudly at the top of the world looking down on creation (oops, sorry got a bit sidetracked there).

Another reason for the Blades’ high position is due to the partnership that Kabba has formed with ex-Palace stalwart Neil Shipperley who has chipped in with 5 goals himself, and as always, will give Ward and Hall a few problems with any high balls on Saturday.

Sheffield United have a strong squad all round and will provide Palace with difficult opposition as they possess quality in every area of the field. That coupled with the leadership skills of Neil (Colin) Warnock has propelled the South Yorkshire team to the top of the table, a place which they won’t give up easily.

Probable line-up

	Morrison	Freedman
Hughes	Watson	Soares	Reich
Boyce	Ward	Hall	Butterfield
Kiraly

Last meeting

Sheffield United 0-3 Palace

Saturday February 07 2004

Sheffield United: Kenny, Kozluk, Phil Jagielka, Page, Wright, Shaw (Ndlovu, 58), McCall (Lester, 77), Montgomery, Tonge, Peschisolido, Sturridge (Allison, 53)

Subs not used: Whitlow, Robinson

Booking: Montgomery

Palace: Berthelin, Granville, Butterfield, Popovic, Hudson, Riihilahti, Hughes (Derry, 67), Gray, Routledge, Johnson, Shipperley

Subs not used: Freedman, Black, Borrowdale, Leigertwood

Bookings: Gray, Riihilahti

Goals: Johnson 42, Popovic 57, Shipperley 87