Football is back! And it's that time of the week to get the lowdown from a fan of Palace's next opponents. Today, it's Gary Gowers; editor of www.MyFootballWriter.com and Norwich City blogger for the Metro.
Firstly, welcome back to the Premier League! Are you looking forward to this season?
Cheers… good to be back! As ever, we’re full of pre-season optimism, albeit with our eyes wide open. We know it’s going to be tough and at times ugly but are fully geared up for a crack at mid-table mediocrity. In Alex Neil we have acquired a manager who is fearless and we hope this will rub off on all around him – especially the players.
No-one fancies us, and if the experts/pundits are to be believed there’s little point in us even turning up this season but being the underdog suits us.
With the Premier League experience Norwich have had over the last few years, do you think your chances of staying up are improved?
Two sides to that argument. If your glass is half-full you can argue we’re better equipped for survival than the other ‘promotees’ because we begin the season with a squad full of players with Premier League experience – most of whom played in the squad that was relegated in 2013/14. The flip-side of course is that the bulk of said group of players weren’t good enough to keep us up!
As ever, reality lies somewhere in the middle and while the PL experience may prove useful, especially in the first couple of months of the season, survival or otherwise will ultimately be decided by Alex Neil’s ability to get a tune out of his squad. In PL terms it has been put together for a modest sum but, although untried at this level, we think Alex can lead us to safety and take a few big scalps en route.
What do you think of Palace and Alan Pardew?
Good club, good manager – even though you’re one of City’s bogey teams. Last season was terrific for you; especially upon the arrival of Pardew, and 10th was an unbelievable effort. The summer has been kind to the Eagles and to have acquired, for starters, Cabaye, Bamford, Wickham and Sako strikes me as good business. Another top half finish is my prediction.
How do you think you'll line up on Saturday?
Minus Youssouf Mulumbu – who got injured in our last friendly against Brentford – my guess is it’ll look something like this.
Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Tettey, Dorrans; Redmond, Hoolahan, Johnson; Grabban.
Three possible changes to that line-up: Wisdom instead of Whittaker, Howson for Johnson and Jerome for Grabban.
Finally, who, from your team, should Palace be most cautious about?
Most of a yellow and green persuasion think that now is Nathan Redmond’s time. He’s been there or thereabouts for a while now and this is his season to really shine, hopefully starting on Saturday! Wes (Hoolahan), if City can get him on the ball enough, is another who has the ability to hurt teams and I’m sure Cameron Jerome – if he gets the chance – will be looking to put one over one of his former clubs.