Crystal Palace vs Coventry City Betting Pick | Eng. Championship

Eng. Championship

2011-08-16 - Crystal Palace vs Coventry City

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Crystal Palace v Coventry City
Football : English Championship
Tuesday 16 August 2011 - Kickoff 8pm

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have flirted with relegation from the Championship for the last few seasons and it was expected to be another season of the same battles. However, there is a flicker of hope that Dougie Freedman could inspire his side to better things as he has started promisingly in his young managerial career.

Palace fans really enjoyed themselves on Saturday as they saw their team beat Burnley 2-0 at Selhurst Park and then proceeded to wind up opposition manager Eddie Howe who had actually turned down the chance to take over at Palace last season. That result also provided the first 3 points of the season after Palace had lost against Peterborough on the opening day.

The team finished 6 points and 2 places clear of the relegation zone last season and the Eagles had based their foundation for survival on their form at home. They actually won just 1 game away from home all season, but had a respectable 11-6-6 home record, scoring 28 goals and conceding 24. No other team in the bottom half of the table secured more home wins than Palace.

Darren Ambrose suffered a knee injury against Burnley and looks set to miss this game. Glenn Murray and Steffen Iversen are definitely out as is Nathanial Clyne.

Coventry City

Andy Thorn was expected to have a tough time to keep the Sky Blues up this season according to the layers before the season started, and even 2 games in to the new season it looks like it might be a tough time ahead for those that attend the Ricoh Arena on a regular basis.

While the team are yet to pick up their first points of the season, it has to be said that Coventry have had a fairly tough start with Championship favourites Leicester winning at the Ricoh on the opening day, and then falling at Birmingham at the weekend. A bigger concern may be the lack of goals, an area they were expected to have difficulties, and Coventry have yet to score a goal in the League this season.

Coventry had a reasonable record away from home last season considering they were in the lower reaches of the Championship. They finished with a 5-8-10 record, scoring 27 goals and conceding 32- however, they have won just 1 of their last 16 competitive games away from home and that must be a real concern for the management.

The squad is also being stretched to the limit through injuries and suspension. Gary Deegan, Clive Platt, Richard Wood, Freddy Eastwood, Ben Turner and Jordan Clarke are all injured while Clive Baker is suspended.

Head to Head

Coventry have actually won 3 of the last 4 meetings between these sides, including the last 2 games.

Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Selhurst Park in the corresponding fixture last season, but they had failed to win their previous 3 home games against Coventry.

Coventry have won just 1 of their last 9 games at Selhurst Park.

Prediction

Crystal Palace look like they can continue their winning ways at Selhurst Park against a team that is struggling with injuries and have their squad stretched to the limit.

It is here that Palace have based their survival last season and I am sure they see this as a chance to get one over a potential rival when it comes to relegation.

Coventry have struggled for goals so far this season, with the sale of Marlon King in the Summer leaving the Sky Blues short up front. The injury to Eastwood is not helping and it is hard to see where the goals are coming from at this moment in time.

At odds against, Palace look a decent shout to continue their decent start to the season.