Paul Merson believes Newcastle United will come away from Selhurst Park with a point, predicting today’s 3pm kick-off at Crystal Palace to end 2-2.
The Sky Sports pundit admits he was shocked to see us lose 2-0 at home to West Ham on Monday, feeling it was a “really bad loss” and game he expected us to “win easily” against a Hammers side who arrived in awful form.
As for Palace, Merson highlights their lack of goals – only Southampton have scored less and the Eagles have managed just three goals in six home games so far – but he was impressed by their pace and threat on the counter in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Merson said: “When you talk about results from last weekend, the one that I did not see coming was Newcastle losing to West Ham.
“I was expecting them to turn up and win easily. That is a really bad loss for Newcastle in my opinion. It baffles me how they ended up losing to that West Ham team!
“They now face Crystal Palace, who I thought were really good away from home against Aston Villa last time out. They looked like a serious threat on the counter and used pace to their advantage. You could say Palace rode their luck at times in that game, but so did Villa.
“Palace are 19th at the moment and will now face an uphill battle to avoid relegation. Southampton are the only team with fewer goals than them this season, so that’s an area where they must improve if they want to survive in this division.
“I can definitely see Newcastle scoring in this game, but I have a feeling Palace can match them.”
Merson’s prediction: Crystal Palace 2-2 Newcastle United
Hopefully we can build on our last away game – a 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago – and respond to Monday’s setback against a struggling Palace side starved of goals.
