Our prediction for this FA Cup match:
Crystal Palace and Southampton face each other in an all-Premier League game in the FA Cup round 3. The Eagles aim to recover from a heavy 4-0 loss to Tottenham, and they are surely capable of matching the out-of-sorts Saints in London. Both James McArthur and Nathan Ferguson continue to miss out with injuries, while striker Jean-Philippe Mateta is widely expected to return to the starting XI. Defender Tyrick Mitchell is back from suspension.
The visitors, on the other hand, are having a Premier League season to forget, with the team collecting only 12 points in the process. Since Southampton are on a six-game losing run in the English top flight, we predict that the hosts are going to advance to the FA Cup last 32. In their last meeting in a competitive match Crystal Palace defeated Southampton thanks to Odsonne Edouard’s goal.
Highlighted Player (Luka Milivojevic):
Born in Kragujevac, Serbia on April 7, 1991, Luka Milivojevic is a product of his home-town club Radnicki Kragujevac. After making 17 appearances for the club in the 2007/2008 season, Milivojevic joined fellow Serbian Super Liga team Rad at the end of the season. The 186-cm-tall midfielder, who is well known for his brilliant long-range shots, played for “Gradjevinari” from 2008 to 2012 and then he moved to famous Serbian club Crvena zvezda (Red Star).
Luka Milivojevic scored seven goals in 36 appearances in the league for the capital club, but at the end of the 2012/2013 season he signed a five-year deal with Belgian outfit Anderlecht. During the 2013/2014 season the Serbian midfielder was on Olympiakos’ radar and he soon joined the Greek giants.
Milivojevic quickly established himself as a first-team regular at Olympiakos, but in January, 2017 the club chiefs decided to sell him to Premier League side Crystal Palace. It has to be noted that the Serbia international scored two goals in 14 appearances for the Eagles in the 2016/2017 Premier League campaign.
Highlighted Team (Southampton):
Southampton are an English football club that have been playing their home games at St Mary's Stadium since 2001. The Saints were based at The Dell in the past and the capacity of Southampton’s new stadium is 32,505. Southampton wear red and white striped shirts and the colour of the team’s away kit is navy and green.
The Saints have yet to win the Premier League trophy, but they did well to clinch the FA Cup title back in 1976, while participating in the final of the prestigious competition in 1900, 1902 and 2003. Southampton outplayed Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup final and that is probably the club’s greatest victory ever.
The club are well known for their football academy and Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale is one of the players who began their football carrier at the St. Mary’s Stadium outfit. Southampton’s fiercest rivals are Portsmouth and the two teams square off against each other in the South Coast Derby.