Following the second half of the 2014/15 campaign for Crystal Palace where the club brought in Alan Pardew, who played for the club more than 125 times between 1987 and 1991, from Newcastle and the former midfielder turned things around for the Selhurst Park based side to lead them away from the relegation zone and into the top ten fans of The Eagles will be eagerly awaiting this first full season under Pardew. What can the 54 year old accomplish this season though?
Last Season:
The 2014/15 EPL season was a tale of two halves for the Londoners as they were under the charge of Neil Warnock for the section of the campaign in 2014 before Pardew took over at the start of January and rescued the season. By the time that Warnock was let go on December 27th Palace had claimed just 16 points from 19 games and sat 18th in the table, but Pardew secured twice as many points in the second half of the campaign to see them end with 48 points to finish tenth place. Now the Wimbledon born manager will look to lead his charges further up the table this season.
2015/16 EPL Preview:
Both of the last two seasons in the Premier League for Palace have seen them finish mid-table following slow starts and strong finishes to the campaigns, but with them having the man who masterminded a stunning end to last season at the helm of the club they will feel that they push further up the league this time around. They do require a more prolific striker as Dwight Gayle finished as their top scorer last season with ten goals in all competitions and if they can add someone to net 15 to 20 goals this season then Palace could very well push into the top eight of the league under the stewardship of Pardew.
Ins and Outs:
Yohan Cabaye – So far The Eagles have made just a single signing this summer as they have brought the 29 year old French midfielder back from Paris after just a single season following his departure from Newcastle. Pardew was his manager when he moved back to his homeland in a £19m deal in January 2014 but after 57 appearances and three goals he moves back to England in a £10m, three year club record deal. He brings plenty of creativity and guile in the middle of the park that will be sure to help the club strikers find the net more often.
The club has released 17 players as Alan Pardew looks to build his own team at Selhurst Park and while a number of these players are youth players who have not made the grade at the club there are a number of familiar names that will now be looking for clubs. Strikers Shola Ameobi and Jerome Thomas top this list after having successful careers at Newcastle and West Brom, while Championship level journeymen Peter Ramage and Stephen Dobbie are also on the lookout for new teams this summer.
Crystal Palace EPL Preview Bets:
Things look good for Palace for the upcoming season with the continuity that they have at the start of this campaign in comparison to the last 18 months and this provides us with ample opportunity for value bets. We take a look at some of the best of these with online bookmaker Unibet.com.
At 2501.00 to win the league in the Unibet Sportsbook it does not appear that the odds compilers have any faith in the Londoners coming close to their best finish of third in the top flight during the 1990/91 season. However, with the last two seasons seeing them collect 45 and 48 points despite awful first half of the seasons Unibet do offer odds of 1.90 for them to collect more than 43.5 points during the 15/16 season.
For us, this is a fantastically paying bet as the team has kept all of their key players so far and added Yohan Cabaye in the centre of the park and this is our safe bet on Crystal Palace for this campaign.
Should you fancy something a little more risky then Unibet.com are offering odds of 3.50 for the club to finish in the top ten this season and after 11th and 10th placed finishes upon their return to the top flight over the last two seasons we are having a smaller bet on this market as well as the South East London aim to continue to improve.