Crystal Palace announce unexpected St. Mary's twist that will excite Southampton | OneFootball

Crystal Palace is also witnessing a Southampton-like injury fortune at the moment. Recently, their midfielders were sidelined from participating at St. Mary's and now their central defender Chris Richards has also been denied the matchday green light due to unimpressive fatigue levels.

Yesterday, Southampton fans must have boldly stated that they waved goodbye to a fatigue-full month in the best manner. From adding every starting defender's name one by one to the injury list, the Saints now find themselves facing a Palace side grappling with a midfield puzzle of their own.

Now, it's starting to feel like a level-playing fitness field at St. Mary's. Unexpectedly, this symmetry is about to tilt Southampton's way as Palace's rock-solid backline has also sustained a similar agony as the Saints.

Crystal Palace's defence running thin on options like Southampton

In the build-up to the ongoing Premier League matchweek, Crystal Palace have expressed that their centre-back mainstay Chris Richards will not command their defence.

Now, fielding a playing lineup without reliable defensive help is a relatable feeling among the Saints but their rivals haven't experienced that largely. As a result, they will attempt to spread their defensive workload on their other stalwarts which isn't an easy task to accomplish.

So, mid-week is setting up to be a rare goal-fest for Southampton's attackers. But there are still uncertain question marks about whether they will make the most of this relatively easier chance.

And those concerns are absolutely valid because Southampton eventually conceded twice to a Wolves side that was missing their sharpest goal-scorer that evening. Therefore, assuming this matchup to be over is one of the most silliest errors that Ivan Juric and the players must avoid making at any cost.

Finally, a Southampton draw can also be regarded as a commendable outcome provided they don't fumble any winning opportunities.