C. Palace vs Bristol C. Match preview

Eng Premier League Qualifiers: C. Palace vs Bristol C.

Crystal Palace confirmed their play-off place with an easy win over Burnley (5:0), thus slowly starting to close a very successful season. Visitors were in great problems early in 6th minute since defender Clarke Carlisle was sent off, and vast scoring was about to begin. Eagles` great form was continued for the 7th win in 11 games, with just one defeat.

It all makes it easy to believe this young squad are capable of even more. The start of the season wasn`t as glorious, though. Severely weakened, comparing to previous season, the team did not play well. Manager Peter Taylor was fired in November 2007, when the team were drowning at 2nd to bottom position and Neil Warnock was signed over. It`s the man who brought Sheffield United to Premier League in last 2 seasons and than left the club. The results started to show after a period of adjustment. Warnock gave a chance for talented teenagers Sean Scanell and Victor Moses, the team started winning furiously and their table position improved significantly.

The reason for such a joy is that neither eccentric president Simon Jordan, nor manager or even fans expected this young squad to achieve this much. It might be their best chance in play-off. Resurrection of the team from Selhurst Park was brought by Neil Warnock, a manager who didn`t lose a single play-off semi-final with his teams in various leagues. That is also a reason why we`ll chose Palace, for this game at least.

On the other side, there`s Bristol City, the most pleasant surprise of the Championship. It`s the first season for them in Coca Cola Championship. Popular Robins showed a great quality, started winning from the very start and took over the leading position in no time. They held well until half of the season, when they started sliding down. Still, they always remained in top 5 with tendency of their games getting worse as the season was getting closer to its finish. Their legs probably got tied with fear of skipping 2 highest ranks in just 2 seasons.

Manager Gary Johnson aimed to defend his goal above all, by setting a firm and solid defense and the team played well at home as well as away. It`s interesting to know that most of their wins (15 of total 20) were made with just one goal difference. They did a great job in January, signing over Del Adebola from Coventry and also Nick Karl from Gencerbirligi, thus improving their weak spots – strikers and creating of the game. They also had a serious chance for automatic promotion, but, as much as Johnson tries to deny it, they were clearly afraid of great success.

They gave themselves a great amount of self-confidence before play-off, after a great win over unmotivated Preston. Prior to this win, they had as much as 5 defeats and just 1 win in 8 games. Truly not enough for a team from the top. They will get a chance to play 2nd leg at always-crowded home Ashton Gate stadium, but don`t posses the experience of playing in play-off, since they were directly promoted to the Championship last year.

The team from south-east London, due to everything said above, are a great favorite for this game. They`ve got experience of playing decisive games on their side, also a time spent in higher ranks, experience and skills of their manager, and most of all – their current form. They`re not under pressure and could easily repeat the same success and vast scoring from last week. They`re worth betting on with odds of 1.83.

Our tip: Bet 8 on Home win
Odds 1.85 at
Bookmaker: Gamebookers