Manager Gary O’Neil says the Blues travel to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace on Saturday full of confidence from their previous performances.

Palace and Town have identical records from their first three games having won one and lost two of their Premier League fixtures so far with their goals scored, goals conceded and therefore goal differences also equal. The Eagles are 13th in the table, above Town on alphabetical order.

While the Blues beat Sunderland 2-1 at home in their first game before defeats at Manchester United and then Liverpool at Portman Road, the South Londoners lost 2-0 at Everton on the opening day, then lost 4-1 at home to Manchester City, but then came from behind twice to win 3-2 at Fulham last weekend.

Palace are under new management, Pierre Sage having been brought in following Oliver Glasner’s departure at the end of last season.


Frenchman Sage led Lens to second in Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France last season, his one campaign at the club.

O’Neil’s Strasbourg side - featuring both Julio Enciso and Abdoul Ouattara - hosted Sage’s Lens in March, the game ending in a 1-1 draw.

Asked whether there are similarities between Palace under Glasner and now with Sage in charge, O’Neil said: “I played against Oliver Glasner quite a lot and I played against Pierre Sage and his Lens team last season at Strasbourg.

“He is trying to get his Crystal Palace group in the same shape and the same positions as he did at Lens.

“But they do have some similarities. Glasner liked a back five and two midfielders, Pierre Sage uses the midfielders a little differently to Glasner, but there are lots of similarities.

“They have a difficult style and will be a good test for us. But we go there ready to give everything we can.

“It is an exciting game for us, away from home in the Premier League, trying to put our first away win on the board. So we go there full of optimism and intensity to try and make it as difficult for them as possible.“

He added: “I have had a couple of those experiences now where I have gone up against Andoni [Iraola]’s Liverpool and now Pierre Sage’s Crystal Palace, where they are both new and I know their previous teams very well.

“You can see that it does take a while for managers to implement their style. Liverpool are not as good at the Andoni style yet as Bournemouth were, which is not surprising as Andoni had that group in a great spot for a long time.

“And the same with Crystal Palace. You can see it is moving towards the Lens team that I played last year, but the understanding won’t be quite the same as it was at Lens yet because of the amount of time they have been together.

“That also goes for us here. We are very new with a big, big turnover of players going up to compete in a different league for our lads. That’s definitely a thing.

“So lots of changes on both sides. I am confident that our group is in a good enough spot to go and compete with Crystal Palace and cause them some problems.

“The aim is to arrive back on Saturday evening with a performance that looks exactly what we stand for and on six points.“

O’Neil is yet to defeat Palace in five games against them as a manager - lost four, drew one - with his previous clubs Bournemouth and Wolves, but dismissed the suggestion that that might provide additional motivation for him.

“No, because even if I had beaten them five times, Ipswich would still only be on three points,” he said. “All I care about is how many points Ipswich are on.

“Because I have beaten Man City [2-1 with Wolves] and haven’t beaten Palace doesn’t really mean anything. It just means we have a game against Palace this weekend, the group are ready and we are trying to add to our points tally.

“We go there with confidence from the performances we have put in, but also respect for Crystal Palace, for the quality they have within the group, they won a European competition last year and are in the Europa League this year.

“This is our fourth game [in the Premier League] and all four teams who we have faced qualified for Europe last season, so it shows you the level of the test that we are up against. But it is one we are embracing and are ready for.“

Palace still have Adam Wharton in their midfield, despite plenty of speculation that the England international might have left for a bigger club in the close season.

“Interesting one, there was a lot of noise around him in the summer,” O’Neil reflected. “I think everyone expected him to move.

“He is an unbelievable talent, fantastic passer of the ball, good understanding. He will be part of what we need to deal with tomorrow. He is a good, good player.

“But Palace have lots of them. You don’t win a European competition and qualify for the Europa League without having good players there.

“They have a good group, strong squad, know what they are doing at the level as they have been at the level for many years now.

“It is one where we are excited to go and test ourselves. I think it is an exciting challenge.

“Of course, different to Liverpool and Manchester United, but one that still brings its challenges. But if we can go and nail exactly how we want to do this, we have a real chance of getting something.“

The Team

O’Neil may well name an unchanged side having been pleased with the way his side reacted and performed after the setback of conceding twice early on against Liverpool a week ago.

That would see Kjell Scherpen in goal behind, from the right, skipper Dara O’Shea, Issa Diop, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis.

Sasa Lukic and Exequiel Palacios will probably be the central midfield pairing, although Florentino Luis could come into O’Neil’s thoughts for his debut.

Abdul Fatawu looks set to continue on the right, Enciso as the number 10 and Daizen Maeda on the left.

Emersonn seems likely to be the number nine, although O’Neil may consider giving Zian Flemming his full debut, the Dutch striker having come off the bench against Liverpool.

Jaden Philogene is back in training and may well be on the bench, perhaps for Marcelino Nunez with Florentino and Ouattara likely to be in the squad and providing cover for central midfield.

The Opposition

Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure is back in training and in contention to be involved against the Blues having been out since January 2025 due to a torn meniscus.

The Mali international was expected to feature in the Carabao Cup win against Middlesbrough in midweek but was kept out by illness.

Forward Ismaila Sarr, who scored the only goal in the corresponding fixture two years ago, won’t be in the squad due to a groin issue, while striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who is in a contract dispute with the Eagles, remains unavailable having picked up a hamstring injury last month.

Manager Sage says his team will have to be wary of the Blues’ threat on the break in particular.

“They’re one of the best teams in the very high intensity of the league,” he said. “That's why there's a big difference with us: we run a lot but, for the moment, we run without high speed.

“But they are able to do that – we have to control that. That's why, if we have the control of the play, we have to be careful with the counter-attack.

“At the end, the most important thing is not the possession. For sure, we want to have the possession, we want to play well and we want to win the game like this.

“But it depends on the context, it depends on the opponent and it depends on each game. We want to play and we want to improve in our way of playing, but we have to manage when we lose the ball by counter-pressing, by the rest defence and this kind of thing. I think it will be a good test for us.”

History

Historically, Town have the edge on Palace, winning 32 games between the sides (30 in the league), losing 28 (27) and drawing 24 (24).

The Blues have lost their last three against the Eagles and have won only once in their last seven, a 3-0 home success under Mick McCarthy in April 2013 in which Frank Nouble netted twice and Aaron Cresswell once.

Town haven’t won at Selhurst Park since August 2010 when Roy Keane’s side beat George Burley’s Palace team 2-1 in a game in which both teams ended the match with 10 men, Andros Townsend, in his second game for the club on loan from Spurs, following Claude Davis from the Eagles for an early bath, while Grant Leadbitter, from the penalty spot, and Carlos Edwards found the target for the Blues.

The teams last met at Selhurst Park in March 2025 when Sarr’s goal eight minutes from time saw Palace to a 1-0 victory.

As so often during that season, there was little between the sides but with the Blues unable to take their chances and Sarr converting one for the Eagles, leaving Town still looking for their first Premier League win of 2025.

At Portman Road earlier in the season, Mateta’s 59th-minute goal was enough to see Crystal Palace to a 1-0 victory over the Blues.

The French striker made the most of a Greaves slip before finishing confidently, with the defender coming closest to scoring for the Blues when he struck the woodwork with a header from a set piece in the closing stages.

Familiar Faces

Palace’s third-choice keeper Remi Matthews, who is from Gorleston, trained with Town in the summer of 2020 after leaving Bolton Wanderers but had a number of Championship clubs interested in him and eventually joined Sunderland.

Blues legend James Scowcroft is European scout with the Eagles, where he played between 2006 and 2009.

Town Women’s manager David Wright was a player at Selhurst Park from 2010 to 2013.

U21s full-back Leon Elliott was with the Palace academy before moving to Playford Road in 2024.

Officials

Saturday’s referee is Chris Kavanagh, his assistants Dan Cook and Bhupinder Singh Gill, and the fourth official Tim Robinson. The VAR official is Craig Pawson and his assistant Adrian Holmes.

Kavanagh has shown 19 yellow cards and one red in four games so far this season, two in Europe and two in the Premier League.

The Lancashire-based ref’s last Town game was the 4-0 home defeat to Arsenal in April 2025 in which he red-carded Davis in the first half for a challenge on Bukayo Saka.

Prior to that, his most recent Blues fixture was the 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield at Portman Road in October 2016 in which he cautioned Jonathan Douglas and one opposition player.

Before that, Kavanagh was in charge of the 3-0 defeat at Hull City the previous October in which he booked Giles Coke and two home players.

Kavanagh’s only previous Town match was the 3-0 home victory over Charlton in 2014/15 in which he booked Tommy Smith and David McGoldrick as well as one Addick.

Squad From

Scherpen, Walton, O’Shea (c), Furlong, Diop, Greaves, Kipre, Davis, Ouattara, Lukic, Florentino, Palacios, Nunez, Fatawu, McAteer, Enciso, Walle Egeli, Clarke, Mehmeti, Maeda, Philogene, Emersonn, Flemming, Akpom.

Photo: TWTD