Palace v Leeds United

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Shaun Derry

Team news

Derry, who was with Palace from 2002 to 2005, has completed a two match suspension and will line up in the United midfield.

Marco Reich (ankle) and Aki Riihilahti (groin) are back in the squad after recovering from their respective injuries.

Clinton Morrison and Dougie Freedman have shaken off niggling injuries, with Morrison likely to get the nod in attack with Andy Johnson.

Frazer Richardson (hamstring) and Matt Kilgallon (knee) are injured. Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell will be hoping his seven internationals returned from midweek games without any injuries.

Leeds United - league stats

Full league table

Leeds United - current form

Full form table

Our home record v Leeds United

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
16/02/2003	FA Cup	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Leeds United
31/01/1998	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 2	Leeds United
23/08/1997	League	Leeds United	0 - 2	Crystal Palace
25/01/1997	FA Cup	Leeds United	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
14/01/1997	FA Cup	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Leeds United

All time results

One to watch

Dermot Gallagher

Mr Gallagher will cause the Palace attacking line and rear guard countless problems on Saturday.

He's likely to give penalties against us for nothing, send a player off for a perfectly good tackle, wave away our penalty appeals or even just disallow our goals. He's a level 4 referee at best.

He's almost incapable of having a decent, unbiased game and will attempt to cause Palace as many problems as he can.

On a serious note though, I'm going to have to go for the Leeds front line in general.

David Healy, the top goalscorer, will be out injured, but there are countless other problems to worry about - Hulse, Blake and Cresswell.

Robbie Blake, the former Darlington man, can be described as the Freedman of Leeds. He has the quality and intelligence to open up defences and is rated as the best finisher at the club.

Richard Cresswell can hold the ball up, score the tap ins and lay the ball off. Me might not have lightning pace but he knows where the net is.

Rob Hulse is another striker on form. He graduated from the Crewe academy and made originally made a move to West Brom of bagging 70 goals in just over 160 appearances.

Hulse is the modern day all round striker. He can score with both feet, his head, tap-in's or long range efforts.

Last meeting

Crystal Palace 1-2 Leeds United

Controversy surrounded the last match between Palace and Leeds. In a match displaying some quality, luck and poor refereeing decisions, a disgruntled Palace side were kicked out of the FA Cup with the quarter finals beckoning.

Dermot Gallagher, everybody’s favourite referee, disallowed a goal that was and, as he disallowed the goal, should have pointed to the penalty spot as the clearance from behind the line was a hand ball.

This wasn’t the only ‘great’ decision of his. Gary Kelly opened the scoring with a hasty a free kick. Cedric Berthelin was still lining up his wall, awaiting the whistle to be blown, when the ball suddenly struck the back of the net. The ball was superbly hit from 25 yards but the Palace side were unprepared for a quick take of the free kick.

However, a few minutes later the score was level. Julian Gray, the Anfield hero, smashed home with his left boot from a poorly defended corner.

5 minutes from half time, Andy Johnson struck on goal and had a shot cleared off the line by the then Leeds defender, Danny Mills, before Tommy Black stepped in to force the lead. The ball crossed the line and support at Selhurst went absolutely mental – that was before they saw Gallagher wave play on. After that, the supporters weren’t mental; they were fierce, angry, livid.

Not only was the ball 2 yards behind the line but Duberry cleared the ball with his hands. Penalty? Don't be stupid!

Nobody quite took control of the game and it was a frenzy of goal to goal action, however, a moment of brilliance saw Harry Kewell charge down on goal from the halfway line and put the ball past Berthelin. Palace tried to equalise but to no avail. The game was lost. The home side were cheated. The FA Cup dream was over.

Crystal Palace: Berthelin, Powell (Akinbiyi 90), Symons (Granville 50), Mullins, Butterfield (Freedman 79), Riihilahti, Derry, Black, Gray, Johnson, Adebola. Subs not used: Kolinko, Thomson.

Leeds: Robinson, Harte, Radebe, Duberry, Mills, Wilcox, Seth Johnson, Okon (Milner 60), Kelly, Kewell (Barmby 75), Smith (Lucic 85). Subs not used: Martyn, Kilgallon. Booked: Seth Johnson, Duberry, Kewell.

Attendance: 24,512

Referee: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire).

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