Crystal Palace striker Dwight Gayle celebrates his goal against West Ham with teammate Jason Puncheon. (Photo : Getty Images)
Lowly clubs Crystal Palace FC (9-15-7, 34 points) and Norwich City FC (8-17-7, 31 points) are both aiming to avoid relegation to the Football League Championship next season as they meet for a 2015-2016 Premier League game at the Selhurst Park on April 9th, Saturday.
Crystal Palace is currently at the 16th place in the league table while Norwich City is one spot below it at 17th. Only seven and four points separate them from the bottom three relegation zone, which is precariously close with still seven games left for the Eagles and six games remaining for Canaries in the season.
The Glaziers were able to pull off an inspiring 2-2 draw with sixth-running team West Ham United at the Upton Park last Saturday as they earned a much-needed point against a top squad, as reported by BBC Sport.
Eagles vice-captain Damien Delaney opened the scoring at the 15th minute which was immediately equalized by Hammers midfielder Manuel Lanzini at the 18th.
French midfielder Dimitri Payet grabbed the lead for West Ham four minutes before the halftime interval to take the lead in the second half.
Palace got a lucky break at the 67th when Senegalese midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté was sent off, leaving the Irons a man down the rest of the way. With that, Alan Pardew's men leveled the count again at the 75th via a Dwight Gayle goal.
Meanwhile, newly-promoted side Norwich City nipped bottom three team Newcastle United, 3-2, at their home field of Carrow Road also last Saturday to gain a much-needed three points in the overall standings, via SkySports.
Defender Timm Klose scored the opening goal for the Yellows at the stroke of halftime. The Magpies equalized it at the 71st with a strike from forward Aleksandar Mitrović.
Norwich grabbed the lead again just three minutes later via Dieumerci Mbokani before it was leveled again by Mirovic's second goal of the game at the 86th. Martin Olsson scored the winner in stoppage time to give the victory to Alex Neil's side.
With the win, the Canaries are now four points above Sunderland, who is the top team in the bottom three zone.
The predicted result is a tough 2-1 decision for Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Jedinak, Ledley; Zaha, Bolasie, Puncheon; Sako
Norwich City starting lineup (4-4-1-1 formation): Ruddy; Wisdom, Bennett, Klose, Olsson; Jarvis, Howson, O'Neil, Brady; Naismith, Mbokani
