Saints travel to Selhurst Park this evening with injury issues that make it hard to feel optimistic when writing a preview, however we still have some experienced players to come into the squad so perhaps this will be a night we pull something out of the bag.

Saints go into the game against the Eagles paying the price for defensive errors of the past few weeks, yes it is all ifs and buts, but two soft goals conceded in each game against both Norwich & Leicester plus that gutting equaliser against Brighton, leave us going into this game with our heads looking over our shoulders and not with a cushion to soften the blow when an injury crisis hits.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has let the strain show in recent weeks, he has allowed his frustration about individual errors to come out and although that is wrong for a manager to do, you can understand it given the fact that in the last 5 games we have cost ourselves points in 3 of them by poor goalkeeping and defending.

The manager will feel that he has a good squad by mid table Premier league standards and that he has been let down by his players with the same old story of lapses in concentration, the Liverpool & Arsenal games were free hits in many respects, but we truly dropped 7 points in the games against Norwich, Leicester & Brighton due to individual error, with those points today we would sit 8th in the League and Ralph Hasenhuttl would be being lauded for taking Saints into the upper half of the league.

But that isn't the case and he is clearly frustrated, no one minds being beaten by a better side, but when its the same old individual errors cropping up again and again it's frustrating.

The manager has to shoulder some of the blame, but when the players cross the line there is little he can do,

Thus we travel to Palace with a squad decimated by injury and on the morning of the match it looking very much like neither of our three strikers will be fit enough to play, added of course to both keepers being injured and it looks like Tino Livramento struggling.

There are as many as 7 players who would have been in contention if fit, but could miss out, Armando Broja, Adam Armstrong and Tino Livramento will all face late fitness tests, but it seems that Che Adams, Fraser Forster, Alex McCarthy & Stuart Armstrong are all definitely out for this evening.

Not a good blank canvass to start writing your team sheet on.

Last season this would have reduced us to the bare bones, but this season the squad has a lot more depth and although it will be tough we can at least put out a team that can compete and perhaps one where there will be a few players with something to prove and that could be good.

The good news is that Mohamed Salisu and Oriel Romeu will return from suspension and that will bring the spine back to the team and we have to build from that.

In goal Willy Caballero will start again, he didn't have a great game at Arsenal, but after so long without playing and suddenly thrust into a team where he knew no one and only a few days training with the squad that is not surprising.

Assuming that none of our injured players make the starting line up then i feel we can still put out a strong defence.

Kyle Walker Peters is a more than adequate replacement for Tino Livramento, a central pairing of Jan Bednarek & Mo Salisu is strong and Romain Perraud will relish the opportunity to show that he is a genuine contender for the left back spot, he has not let anyone down in his performances this season and finds himself a victim of circumstance.

In the centre of midfield Oriel Romeu and James Ward Prowse will hold the centre and then it will be a question of how the manager sets out the team.

Option 1 is to play a 4-4-2 and utilise two wingers and two front men, that could see for instance two out of Nathan Redmond, Moi Elyounoussi and Moussa Djenepo utilised with Nathan Tella and Theo Walcott up front, indeed we could almost mix and match any of those 5 for the 2 positions.

But Ralph might decide to go for option 2 and pack the midfield, bringing in Ibrahima Diallo in a central 3 with 2 wide men and only one man up front, again the aforementioned 5 could fill any of those positions.

So we can put out a starting XI with plenty of experience and still have a bench with the likes of Lyanco, Jack Stephens, Will Smallbone, Shane Long & Yan Valery, all players with experience and who can do a job.

I would also think that if Livramento does not make the squad, then Thierry Small will be on the bench for his first taste of Saints first team involvement.

So this is not the same as earlier this year when 7 players out would see us playing kids and at times two goalkeepers on the bench.

But the real worry here is the lack of strikers, without Broja, Adams & Adam Armstrong we have missing over half of the 14 goals we have scored this season in the Premier League and that cannot be glossed over, especially as of the 5 attacking options I have mentioned only Moi Elyounoussi has scored in the Premier League this season.

But sometimes in adversity teams pull out all the stops and find a bit extra to win games when it looks least likely, we can keep it tight at the back and in midfield, but can we score goals.

Palace had not been in great form going into this one until they beat Everton at the weekend, in their previous 11 League games they had won just twice, although they were something of draw specialists with 5 of those and 4 defeats.

But the win over the toffee's will give them some confidence, but they did struggle in that one and the 3-1 win over a poor Everton side was made to look better by a 90th minute goal and up to that point it could have gone any way.

We should have been going into this game a lot higher up the table, but we can't change the past, but we can change the future, the vultures are circling for this one and if we lose it they will start to hone in, but the season has a long way to go, on Saturday we will perhaps have more of our injured strikers back and the Brentford game will be the one we stand a better chance of winning, in this one we need to build the foundations to win on Saturday, if we can do that we can move up the table again.

To do that though we need to score goals and the difference between the first half of last season and this is that we are too reliant on the strikers, none of the support players are truly weighing in, we need all of those 5 who will form the wide players and strikers this evening to start scoring goals, when they do, then things will truly improve.

Photo: Action Images

reeder added 12:02 - Dec 15 Shame we can't blag a postponement due to Covid Til we get some better keepers/players back!!
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andywelsh added 13:00 - Dec 15 With a game under his belt now I suspect Ralph will reunite Salisu with his early season partner Stephens so I’m preparing for Nick to lay any defeat squarely at his door.
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DorsetIan added 13:52 - Dec 15 Big test tonight. Difficult to feel optimistic but you never know. But I'm beyond the point where Ralph can make excuses (player performances or whatever) for the team's results. He's the one preparing and picking the team. He's the one playing the same gung-ho tactics for the first 20 minutes of every game. And he's the one who is responsible for managing the in-game situation with substitutions and tactical changes. It's too easy to single out individual errors. For every goal that's ever scored an individual error can be identified, and tiredness and the game situation have a large part to play in players making mistakes. Ralph's been here for long enough now. He needs to take full responsibility for every result. Particularly the next two, which may define our season from here.

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halftimeorange added 13:52 - Dec 15 I don't think that Palace were lucky against Everton - more like Everton being fortunate not to ship a hatful as Palace battered them and then let a soft goal in. I'll be surprised if we're not under the cosh from the off. Ralph has to play round pegs in round holes and that means KWP at RB and Perraud at LB. I'd put Djenepo in ahead of Redmond, Walcott and Elyounoussi as he does tackle back and has pace. Redmond offers more of a threat than the other two mentioned but, we seriously lack height (is this a game for Shane Long) and JWP doesn't seem to be able to cross the dead ball to feet. Romeu and Salisu are shoe-ins. I'd like to see Lyanco given a run and Teller up front but, I seriously doubt such a line-up will materialise as it's too obvious.

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davidargyll added 16:31 - Dec 15 I think it is easy to get pessimistic about things given our very average season so far. But if you look at the results elsewhere, with the possible exception of Villa, everyone in the bottom half has been very up and down. So I am coming round to the view that, so long as we keep averaging at least one point per game, we will end up around 15th, which in the circumstances (owner, money etc) would be ok.

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A1079 added 16:32 - Dec 15 All the focus on defensive errors but not a word about our ineptness in front of goal game after game which would have helped nullify any defensive errors. We may have more depth in the squad but I would question the quality. I have never called for Ralph to go because I want to see continuity and stability but he has run out of excuses, he has been long enough in the job and he has some awful stats against him. 4 points out of tonight and the weekend will go along way to feeling a little more comfortable and hopefully we can do it but those that do play really need to get stuck in and fight for the club. All too often they look light weight, disinterested and cave in too easily when things aren't going well.

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sandywelsh added 16:55 - Dec 15 Tonight I would like to see a defence of Walker-Peters,Salisu,Lyanco & Perraud. Romeu & Prowse in midfield. With Long, Tella, Elyounoussi, & Redmond up front.
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JoeEgg added 17:00 - Dec 15 "with those points today we would sit 8th in the League and Ralph Hasenhuttl would be being lauded for taking Saints into the upper half of the league." What a totally ridiculous statement to make. The three points we got off villa saw us hanging on for dear life - while every manager will claim they were unlucky and should have had more points than they actually have. We are in our rightful position based on our actual performances and not Nick, on what might have been had we performed better. You continue to repeat this 8th position fantasy and it beginning to wear thin and really annoy me! The manager has the players to get at least 4 points from Palace and Brentford. However I would imagine most of the players feel under enormous pressure after recent criticism and many will find themselves once again asked to adopt different roles, positions and tactics yet again. Of course tonight we are looking at a serious loss of forward pwer - but remember these are the forwards who dont know how to score goals anyway - so just possibly someone else will show them how its done. One thing you can be certain of - if our high press produces an early Saints goal then Ralph will make sure the team spend the rest of the game camped in our own half trying to hold on to 1-0! No more excuses please for Ralph - he either does the business or someone else gets the chance. Palace are not a great side but I fancy their manager will prove too clever for ours, and then out will come all the usual post match excuses and Nick will tell us how we missed another great chance of climb umpteen places!

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KilkennySaint added 17:10 - Dec 15 Have to disagree with two things in this article 1. A central pairing of Jan Bednarek & Mo Salisu is not strong, Bednarek was been poor for a long time, the Arsenal game is evident of that, Salisu & Lyanco have to be our partnership going forward with Small and Simeu making the breakthrough this or next season. 2. There is no such thing as a free hit, it creates a defeatist mentality.

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