Crystal Palace v Swansea Betting Tips: Improvement unlikely for Swans

This relegation clash sees Crystal Palace play host to bottom-of-the-table Swansea City at Selhurst Park.

Palace were on a slippery slope towards relegation but then decided to appoint survival veteran Sam Allardyce in an attempt to secure their Premier League future. It could be argued that, such is the experience of the former England man, The Eagles will definitely be in the top flight next season – although such statements are perhaps a little premature.

Allardyce managed to secure a point away at Watford in his first match and then managed to limit Arsenal to a respectable two goals, one of them unstoppable, in his next game. This places Palace in 17th, just one point above the drop-zone, however, with Allardyce’s first home match being against struggling Swansea, the Londoners will be confident they can extend this gap on Tuesday.

Although they have failed to keep a clean sheet in either of his first two matches, Allardyce’s teams are well known for their sturdy defences and we can expect this to certainly be the case over the rest of the season, starting against Swansea. They do have enough talent in the team going forward, as was evident under the previous manager, and a re-jigged defence should be enough for them to stay up.

The Eagles have been terrible at home with five losses in their last six matches, however, the Allardyce factor should change that and give them renewed hope.

Like Palace, Swansea dispensed with their manager recently but are yet to employ a replacement. Inexperienced Paul Clement is the most likely to take the hot seat, but it is still likely to be long-serving Swan Alan Curtis who takes charge at Selhurst Park.

Whether a man (Paul Clement) who lacks any sort of Premier League experience and one who has had just one job previously can lift the Swans off the bottom is yet to be seen. He certainly needs to with Swansea sitting four points from survival.

Although The Swans sacked their manager Bob Bradley, it is clear that the problems run deeper than him as defensively they are all over the shop having conceded 13 in their last four matches – an average of 3.25 per game. They do have a talisman in Gylfi Sigurdsson in attacking midfield but, even if they manage to keep hold of him in January, he cannot drag the team by himself. The Swans lack cutting edge up front as well as their poor defence, hence why they are in a complete mess.

Swansea’s away record is pretty embarrassing with no win since their first match on the road and just one point out of a possible 24 since. Going up against a revitalised Palace at what is likely to be an atmospheric Selhurst Park is not ideal.

Overall, I really can’t see anything other than a Palace win here and they are rightly heavy favourites. As previously mentioned, Swansea lack anything up front and I expect a now shored-up Eagles back-line to see this game out and record a victory to nil – an outcome worth backing at odds of 11/10.

However, a glut of goals for the hosts doesn’t seem likely. Since Allardyce knows the importance of this match, I doubt he will be too adventurous and will probably focus much more on making sure his side give little away. In true Allardyce fashion, a low-scoring, defensive win is on the cards here. ‘Crystal Palace to Win & Under 2.5 Goals’ is well worth a go at 7/2. 

Click here to see more Premier League tips.