Crystal Palace pulled off an amazing victory over Manchester United to reach the Carling Cup semi-finals on Wednesday night but return to the bread and butter of the Championship on Friday as Derby County come calling. Their recent form has been dismal so will the mid-week glory act as a catalyst for a league revival? (Palace Evens, Derby 9/4, draw 9/4 Match Prices).
The Red Devils made eight changes for the clash with the Eagles but Sir Alex Ferguson could not be accused of putting out a weak team as it still contained eight full internationals.
The simple fact is that Palace wanted it more and deservedly came away with the extra-time win at Old Trafford.
How boss Dougie Freedman would have loved his charges to put in the same kind of performance in the Championship over the past few weeks, as he has watched his men struggle and fail to win in five attempts (Palace 16/1 To Be Promoted).
The south Londoners’ last league victory was a 1-0 success away at Ipswich and they have since played out goalless draws with Reading, Portsmouth and Millwall, while suffering defeats to Leicester and Cardiff.
Scoring goals has clearly been the problem, especially at home, as the Palace faithful have witnessed the opposition net rippling on just eight occasions on their own patch, while they have scored 10 goals on their travels en route to 26 points and 12th place in the table.
Freedman has made his side hard to beat and the five goals they have conceded at home is second only to Birmingham in that category in the division.
But you have to score to win and that is something that needs to be addressed, otherwise a few 0-0 scorelines will start changing to 1-0 losses as the season progresses with the inevitable slide down the table.
Darren Ambrose and Glenn Murray scored the goals that dumped United out of the competition and the challenge now is for the pair to replicate that from in the league, to help out their team-mates at the back who have done such a stellar job this term.
The victory came at a cost however, as Dean Moxey (knee) and winger Sean Scannell (thigh) will both miss Friday’s encounter, while Wilfried Zaha was limping at the end of a gruelling 120 minutes and is rated as doubtful with just a 48-hour turnaround.
Derby had high hopes of either automatic promotion or a play-off place at least this term but the early-season optimism when they won four straight games to kick off their campaign has long since evaporated.
The Rams have lost six out of seven Championship games and five in a row and will travel to London desperate to halt their plunge down the standings.
They have conceded three goals in three of their past five games and it is obvious that they have serous problems with their defence.
Nigel Clough’s side has conceded 17 goals on the road this term and scored just nine and the statistics for both outfits suggest that a single goal might win this one.
John Brayford remains a fitness doubt for the visitors after sitting out Tuesday’s defeat to Brighton, having recently returned from a five-week lay-off.
Clough may opt for an unchanged side after admitting that he was pleased with the performance against the Seagulls despite the defeat.
With pressure mounting on the boss and the drop zone now just four points away, the former Liverpool striker would take a dismal display in the capital as long as he came away with there points.
Both sides are desperate for a win but Palace are tipped to sneak it by the odd goal to begin their climb up the table.
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The remaining two Carling Cup second-round ties take place on Tuesday evening with Premier League side Wigan facing a tricky trip to Championship outfit Crystal Palace aiming to bounce back from Saturday’s 3-0 drubbing at Manchester City, while League One rivals Charlton and Preston go head-to-head at the Valley (Carling Cup – totesport).