Key events
45 + 2 min: AMAZING RUN! Murillo picks up the ball from near the halfway line and skips past several players, jinking his way through before getting the shot off, Johnstone saving. That would’ve been the goal of the season.
45 min: Ayew drives into the centre from the left, Rak-Sakyi tries the same from the right but Forest counter, Wood holding the ball up well up top.
43 min: A replay of that Rak-Sakyi shot – it was a very good block from Toffolo, flinging himself to deny a goal.
42 min: Rak-Sakyi has the crowd buzzing every time he gets the ball – he’s been electric since coming on not long ago.
40 min: No danger from the corner, but Palace now pushing forward, Ayew very much involved on the left and sends a cross in… Rak-Sakyi gets a shot away, but it’s blocked.
40 min: Ayew finds Mitchell on the overlap, and the cross goes deep to Rak-Sakyi, who floors Toffolo with some excellent feet. Corner to Palace.
38 min: Free kick for Palace from the left – Riedewald scuffs it and Hudson-Odoi attacks for Forest on the counter. Palace recover to force Forest back before Aurier whips in from the right wing – but it’s straight to Johnstone.
36 min: Andersen finds Rak-Sakyi on the right wing, who shows off the step-over to skip away and put in a decent ball into the box.
35 min: Ayew now on the left for Palace due to Schlupp’s premature departure. Hudson-Odoi’s been dropping deep for Forest to get himself in the game, but is still searching for space to dribble at the defence.
33 min: Andersen hits a cross from range and finds Ayew free in the middle – but the first-time volley flies high and over. Would’ve been a cracker if he’d found the middle of the boot.
31 min: Neat play from Forest before Sangaré switches to Aurier, who pulls of an acrobatic first touch. Sangaré’s looked particularly classy on the ball in the last few minutes.
30 min: Forest now dominating possession, with Palace yet to test Turner at all.
28 min: Mitchell and Gibbs-White duel it out on Forest’s right wing – nice little battle developing there.
27 min: A break in play, seems like we’ve got an injury. Aurier is heading off, and Montiel’s going to come on for him. Except, well, he’s actually staying on. Instead Palace are the ones making a change – Schlupp is off and on comes young Rak-Sakyi.
Here’s Eric Peterson: “Hello from Pittsburgh! Sometimes the last game of the day feels like a much-anticipated culmination, the game to which the whole rest of the day of football has been building (like, you know, tomorrow). This one feels like the cabaret show you see after whatever cultural-district performance was the main part of your evening. It’s not the reason you went out in the first place, and it won’t be the most memorable part of your evening (and if it is, there’s a risk it won’t be for the right reasons), but dammit, you took the trouble to get all gussied up for a night on the town in the first place, so you may as well make the most of it.”
22 min: Hudson-Odoi attacks on the left and finds Sangaré in the box – Forest now looking sharp.
21 min: Nearly a stunner! Long, brilliant ball from Murillo into the box and Gibbs-White deftly dinks it first time on the volley over Johnstone’s head… but it hits the post and returns to the keeper!
20 min: Gibbs-White gets his quick feet moving and there’s a handball shout against Mitchell in the Palace box.
18 min: Another shot from Aurier, seemingly desperate to hit a screamer from range.
16 min: Aurier tries a wild shot but Forest are finally up and about here in south London.
15 min: The ball finds Toffolo outside the box and he hits the ball ever so sweetly with his left foot, but Johnstone makes a nice save.
14 min: Aurier sends in a lovely cross, which Andersen gets in the way of. Corner for Forest.
14 min: Scrappy stuff in the midfield and it’s Forest who get the free-kick. Still waiting for someone to inject some class into this game.
12 min: … and Forest end up with a free-kick.
11 min: A bit of energy finally as Hughes intercepts in the middle and drives before trying to set up Edouard. Corner for Palace…
10 min: All a bit quiet so far, to be perfectly honest.
8 min: Edouard is definitely going for a cross, which suddenly turns into a scuffed shot looking to catch Turner dozing. But it flies over.
7 min: The ball nearly breaks nicely for Wood up front, but Palace quickly recover to snuff out any danger.
6 min: Palace dominating possession so far as Ayew tries to whip in a cross from the right – but nothing comes from it.
5 min: Sky bringing up a list of Palace’s injuries – Eze, Olise, Lerma among them. Tough beat for the hosts.
4 min: Palace knock it about before Guéhi goes long and finds Ayew, who holds it up well – but the end of the play is a goal-kick for Forest.
1 min: Forest work it to the right, where Aurier whips a decent-looking ball but Palace clear.
Schlupp kicks off for Palace. Here we go!
First, a minute of applause.
And we’re about to kick off. Palace in their red and blue stripes, Forest in those wavy sky-blue and white garms.
So that’s both sides missing key threats in attack. Fingers crossed we’ve still got a few goals coming in…
Steve Cooper says Awoniyi has picked up a groin injury which rules him out for “probably a month”.
Roy Hodgson speaks to Sky, first on his 400 games in Our League:
“I’m proud of course, it’s such a competitive league, it’s grown so much since I came back in 1997 at Blackburn Rovers so it’s been fantastic to have been a part of that journey and racked up so many games.”
On his lengthy injury list:
“We know what we’ve got to do, it is what it is, you can’t keep crying or bleating about it. It happens to all teams and I think our team to start the game is a strong one and if we can keep those guys on the field and if they can get through the 90 minutes without putting too much stress on our bench then I’m still confident we can do well.”
From Blackburn to Fulham, Liverpool to West Brom, Palace to Watford… and then back to Palace again. Well in, Roy.
Elsewhere, scenes at Old Trafford.
So three changes for Forest, with Toffolo, Wood and Gibbs-White in, Niakhaté, Awoniyi and Elanga out.
From the side that defeated Manchester United, there’s no Ward, Eze and Doucouré. Clyne, Riedewald and Édouard are in.
The teams
Crystal Palace: Johnstone, Clyne, Guéhi, Andersen, Mitchell, Hughes, Riedewald, Ayew, Schlupp, Édouard, Mateta
Subs: Matthews, Holding, Tomkins, Richards, Ozoh, Rak-Sakyi, Ebiowei, Ola-Adebomi, Raymond
Nottingham Forest: Turner, Aurier, Boly, Murillo, Toffolo, Sangaré, Mangala, Domínguez, Gibbs-White, Wood, Hudson-Odoi
Subs: Worrall, Williams, Kouyaté, Andrey Santos, Elanga, Yates, Vlachodimos, Origi, Montiel
Referee: Craig Pawson
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to our coverage of Crystal Palace’s clash at home against Nottingham Forest. Palace had a more than decent day out at Old Trafford last Saturday, with Joachim Andersen belting a half-volley past André Onana for a 1-0 victory. Forest, on the other hand, settled for a point at home against Brentford after they went down to 10 men, Moussa Niakhaté sent off in the 56th minute.
The bad news for Palace: they’re without Eberechi Eze, who’s picked up a hamstring injury, the 25-year-old joining Michael Olise, another creative force, on the sidelines. Forest turned up in London last month and knocked over Chelsea; they’ll be eyeing up further joy in the capital.
Kick off is at 5.30pm BST – I’ll be here to keep you company all the way.
