Cardiff City v Palace

Cardiff City Stadium, Saturday 5.30pm

Christian Benteke

Team news

Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke is unlikely to play after suffering a cheekbone injury following a clash with Everton's Michael Keane last weekend. Jeffrey Schlupp (ankle), Mamadou Sakho (knee), James Tomkins (groin) and Pape Souare are out for the season.

Cardiff's Kenneth Zohore and Aron Gunnarsson are hopeful of featuring, however Harry Arter is likely to be out. Sol Bamba, Callum Paterson, Joe Ralls and Matthew Connolly are all out for the Bluebirds.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"There is no doubt they have been good at home this season and had some good results, and they have been unlucky at times. They have done very well as a club to still be in the fight with two games left.

"For them it is a very difficult situation. We go there knowing we are safe, whereas they have still got something really important to play for.

"We have to expect a very motivated team, a team that will give its all to cling to the last chances of staying in the league, and hoping they can win while Brighton don’t. We have a desire to win the game as well.

"Whether the game becomes easier or more difficult because the pressure delivers a good performance from them I don’t know, only the game will tell. We are motivated to give a good performance."

Neil Warnock

"We just concentrate on the Palace game now. That’s all we can focus on and we can’t think of anything else.

"It would be nice to go to Old Trafford knowing that a win could keep us up – that’s my main objective at the moment.

"Of course, it’s disappointing that one or two more points could have put us in a better position. However, if you told us we’d still be fighting with a chance with two games to go, I think we may have accepted that earlier on in the season. I don’t want us to be tepid on Saturday now. I want us to have a real go.

"They probably play their best football away from home. They’re set up well, with a solid defence and midfield, and attacking talents further forward.

"I don’t even need to ask the fans to be the twelfth man - it goes without saying. They’ve just been incredible, I think, and I’ve never seen anything like it."

Cardiff City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
18th	36	9	4	23	31

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
26/12/2018	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Cardiff City
05/04/2014	League	Cardiff City	0 - 3	Crystal Palace
07/12/2013	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Cardiff City
26/12/2012	League	Cardiff City	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
22/09/2012	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 2	Cardiff City

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 0-0 Cardiff City

Wednesday December 26 2018

Palace: Guaita, Sakho, Tomkins, van Aanholt, Wan-Bissaka, McArthur, Kouyate, Milivojevic, Meyer (Wickham, 63), Townsend, Zaha

Subs not used: Ayew, Dann, Ward, Speroni, Puncheon, Schlupp

Cardiff City: Etheridge, Morrison, Bennett, Manga, Bamba, Harris, Hoilett (Arter, 89), Ralls, Camarasa (Gunnarsson, 89), Peltier, Reid

Subs not used: Cunningham, Smithies, Murphy, Mendez-Laing, Madine

Bookings: Bamba, Camarasa, Hoilett