Southampton v Crystal Palace preview: Alex McCarthy to keep place

Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy looks set to keep his place as Southampton host Crystal Palace on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old, who signed for Saints in the summer of 2016, was given his opportunity against Manchester United on Saturday with Fraser Forster paying the price for an unconvincing run of form.

McCarthy did well enough to hold off United in a 0-0 draw and should hang on to the gloves when his former club Palace visit St Mary’s.
„Obviously the goalkeeper is a special position and you have to support them but most of my players have had an opportunity in the Premier League and nobody can complain about that,“ said Saints boss Mauricio Pellegringo.

„We decide to change some players to give the opportunities to others and now Alex has to show his capacity, his quality on the pitch. In football nothing is fixed, everything is changing all the time. I try to use the moment and the player I think is better, I try to give the opportunity.“
Despite the encouraging nature of their point at Old Trafford, Southampton are now winless in their past eight games and eyeing the January window eagerly after selling Virgil van Dijk for £75m.

Palace have lost just one of their last 10 Premier League games and came close to beating Manchester City last time out, with Luka Milivojevic seeing a late penalty saved in a 0-0 draw.

Team news
Saints are still without striker Charlie Austin, who is suspended. Left-back Ryan Bertrand (hamstring) could be back in contention.

Palace hope to have Ruben Loftus-Cheek, James McArthur and Jeffrey Schlupp available after they missed Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City.
Jason Puncheon and Scott Dann also suffered injuries against City, meaning that with Mamadou Sakho and Joel Ward also injured, Martin Kelly and Damien Delaney will vie for selection in central defence.

Opta stats
Southampton have won seven and lost none of their eight Premier League home meetings with Crystal Palace, scoring 17 goals and conceding just five.

Since their return to the Premier League in 2012-13, Saints have won more league games against Crystal Palace than they have vs any other side (7/9).
Southampton’s 0-0 draw away to Man Utd was their first shutout in the Premier League in 12 games. Indeed, it was Alex McCarthy’s first in the top-flight since April 2013 for Reading versus QPR.

However, this match was the 16th time in Southampton’s last 33 competitive games (since April 1st) that they have failed to score (48%).
Mauricio Pellegrino has won just four of his 21 Premier League games as Southampton manager (19%) – the third worst win percentage of any Saints manager in the competition behind Steve Wigley (6.2%) and Harry Redknapp (18.2%).

Christian Benteke has scored five goals in his last six Premier League games against Southampton.

Merson’s prediction
That was a big result for Southampton against Manchester United. I watched them against Tottenham and they didn’t look like they were fussed, they got turned over quite easily and I was worried for the manager. But he made big decisions at Old Trafford.

Fraser Forster has been waiting to be dropped and it’s about eight games too late I think. He is probably a better keeper but sometimes you need to bring a player out of the firing line. His confidence was low, he wasn’t making saves, and he probably needs a couple of weeks out then to go back in again. He hasn’t become a bad goalkeeper, his confidence has just gone. It was a big decision and it worked for them with Alex McCarthy making a couple of really big saves.

Crystal Palace were quite comfortable against Manchester City and could have won it at the end. They have been in decent form and I think they will win this.
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