Crystal Palace vs Southampton: Team news, kick-off time, probable line-ups, odds and stats from the Premier League clash

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Ahead of this weekend's Premier League action, Sportsmail will be providing you with all you need to know about every fixture, with team news, provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information you need for Crystal Palace's home clash with Southampton on Saturday.

Crystal Palace vs Southampton (Selhurst Park)

Team news

Crystal Palace

Roy Hodgson will have Ruben Loftus-Cheek and James Tomkins available for his first match as Crystal Palace manager, when his new team host Southampton.

Each missed Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Burnley, under the sacked Frank de Boer, but have recovered their fitness.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and James Tomkins are available for Crystal Palace on Saturday

Mamadou Sakho and Pape Souare remain short of match fitness, so are likely to miss out, while Wilfried Zaha is continuing his rehabilitation following a knee injury.

Provisional squad: Hennessey, Speroni, Riedewald, Dann, Delaney, Fosu-Mensah, Tomkins, Kelly, Ward, Sakho, Lee, McArthur, Cabaye, Loftus-Cheek, Milivojevic, Mutch, Puncheon, Sako, Schlupp, Souare, Kaikai, Townsend, Van Aanholt, Benteke

Southampton

Defender Virgil van Dijk could return to Southampton's squad for the first time in eight months when they travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Holland international, who will be given a late fitness test, missed the final 16 Premier League matches of last season following a ligament injury suffered in January and has not been selected so far this campaign after handing in a transfer request during the summer.

Virgil van Dijk could return to Southampton's squad for the first time in eight months

Denmark international midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is Saints' only absentee ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park as he has returned to his homeland due to the birth of his daughter.

Provisional squad: Forster, McCarthy, Stephens, Bertrand, Targett, McQueen, Soares, Pied, Yoshida, Hoedt, Van Dijk, Bednarek, Davis, Tadic, Romeu, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Lemina, Long, Boufal, Austin, Gabbiadini.

Key match stats (supplied by Opta)

Crystal Palace have won just two of their 16 Premier League matches against Southampton, (D4 L10), although both victories have come in the last four meetings (both at Selhurst Park).

Southampton have lost their last two Premier League trips to Selhurst Park to face the Eagles, this after avoiding defeat in their first six there (W3 D3).

Saints have won three of their last four meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions, losing the other. Indeed, there hasn’t been a draw between the sides in any of the last 16 clashes (6 wins for Palace, 10 wins for Southampton).

Roy Hodgson (70 years old) will be only the third manager to take charge of a Premier League game in his 70’s after Sir Alex Ferguson and Bobby Robson. He is the first-ever PL manager to be appointed in his 70’s, however.

Should Crystal Palace lose and fail to score in this game, they’ll be the first top-flight side in history to open a season with five defeats and no goals.

Roy Hodgson will be hoping Crystal Palace record their first points on the weekend

Crystal Palace’s xG (expected goals) figure in the Premier League this season is 4.73 – suggesting that an average team would have scored five goals from the chances they’ve had. This xG tally is higher than Chelsea’s (4.08), who have scored eight goals.

The Premier League record for longest time taken by a team to score a goal in a season is 438 minutes, held by Newcastle United in 2005-06. If Crystal Palace don’t score before the 78th minute in this match, they’ll break this record.

Southampton have failed to score in nine of their last 12 Premier League matches, including three of their four games so far in 2017-18.

No Southampton player has scored more goals for the club in the Premier League since the start of 2016-17 than Charlie Austin (7 – level with Nathan Redmond), despite the striker only playing 989 minutes in this period (a goal every 141 mins on average).

Christian Benteke has scored five goals in his last five Premier League appearances against Southampton, including three in two for Crystal Palace.