Saints now have a two week break from Premier League action and can concentrate on the FA Cup this week.

Saints will be glad of the rest from the Premier league after coming through a tough six game period spanning Xmas and the New Year with 16 points out of 18, but this has come at a cost injury wise and Ronald Koeman will be grateful of a fortnight's break in that he can give a few of the fringe players a game in the FA Cup to get their match sharpness not to mention the recuperation time for the injured.

The chances are that even if the injured trio had been fit they would have been rested so in effect Saints probably go into this game with exactly the same team as would have been selected if they had been fit with the downside being that perhaps they would have been on the bench as insurance.

But even with that injury list as we showed at Newcastle we have plenty of people capabale of stepping up to the plate with the likes of Harrison Reed desperate to prove to the manager their worth, for sides on winning runs it is better to play a game and keep the momentum going rather than twiddle our thumbs for a fortnight and use the opportunity to utilise the whole squad.

Palace themselves are perhaps going to rest players with their focus being on the relegation battle and not the cup, for us though it is different and the Cup is a chance for glory

Photo: Action Images

darthvader added 14:38 - Jan 19 Pardew will come here desperate to win last two times had been 4-0 defeats .
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schatfield added 16:05 - Jan 19 yeah pards will be hoping his palace boys do better than the toon. i wouldnt be surprised to see a palace first team, and they are on good form too. we still should win though.
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