Palace v Bristol City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Darren Ambrose

Team news

Palace manager Dougie Freedman could welcome midfield pair Darren Ambrose (groin) and Alex Marrow (ankle) back from injury. New striker Jermaine Easter is set to make his first start after recently joining from MK Dons.

Bristol City defenders Louis Carey and Liam Fontaine return to the squad after recovering from injury. It is likely to see Kalifa Cisse drop to the bench and Cole Skuse to go back to his usual place in midfield.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"The result at Swansea was not the way I wanted to begin but we still have 20 games remaining and I'm convinced we have more than enough to get out of trouble.

"We were in a far worse position than this last year and we managed to get out of it. I'm not planning on it getting anywhere near as close as it was back then though.

"People may say we lack the big characters that we had in the ranks last season - the likes of Shaun Derry, Clint Hill and Alan Lee - but I've worked with this current crop long enough to know they're more than capable of getting us out of this. We play a different way now in any case. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

"When I look at the ability we have I'm convinced that we can climb clear of trouble quickly and avoid any final day drama. No one wants to have to go through all of that again, least of all me."

Keith Millen

"We've had some good games at Selhurst Park over the years, including that play-off semi-final victory. Dougie Freedman's gone in there now and this will be his first home game in charge. I'm sure there will be a decent atmosphere there and a good-sized crowd.

"He'll want his players to be fighting for their lives. We played them recently and they scored early before defending for their lives. We got a last-minute equaliser but we know it's going to be a tough game.

"We need to perform like we had been doing before the Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough games. We need to be hard to beat, with enough quality in attack to hurt them.

"They've brought Steffen Iversen in and I think Darren Ambrose will be fit to face us, having missed the Ashton Gate match on December 28th. Ambrose is a good player who can be a match-winner on his day. Neil Danns also had a good game against us so we'll be wary of him.

"We've done our homework on them but it's up to us to bounce back. We've had two poor performances and need to come back strongly."

Bristol City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
17th	26	8	7	11	31

Full league table

Bristol City - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
6	1	2	3	7	13

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
28/12/2010	League	Bristol City	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
09/03/2010	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Bristol City
15/08/2009	League	Bristol City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
28/12/2008	League	Bristol City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
22/11/2008	League	Crystal Palace	4 - 2	Bristol City

All time results

Last meeting

Bristol City 1-1 Palace

Tuesday December 28 2010

Bristol City: James, Nyatanga, Caulker, Campbell-Ryce (Pitman, 58), Elliott, Skuse, Johnson, Cisse, Adomah, Stead (Clarkson, 76), Haynes (Rose, 76)

Subs not used: Gerken, Sproule, Stewart, Edwards

Goals: Pitman 90 (pen)

Bookings: Caulker, Cisse

Palace: Speroni, Wright, McCarthy, Davis (Barrett, 46), Bennett, Clyne, Danns, Andrew, Scannell (Obika, 89), Zaha, Counago (N'Diaye, 88)

Subs not used: Price, Dorman, O'Keefe, Cadogan

Goals: Danns 2

Bookings: Andrew, Bennett, Davis, Speroni, Wright