UEFA Champions League preview: Crystal Palace's competitive form has improved, Alkmaar won five consecutive victories
At 04:00 in the morning on November 7th, Beijing time, there will be a wonderful showdown in the UEFA Champions League group stage. The Premier League team Crystal Palace will sit at Selhurst Park in London and face the Dutch Eredivisie team AZ Alkmaar. The two teams have a surprising thing in common, that is, they both lost to the Cypriot team AEK Larnaca in the UEFA Champions League.
Currently, both teams have a record of 1 win and 1 loss after two rounds of competition, with 3 points tied. Therefore, this is an out-and-out battle for position. The winner will occupy a favorable position in points and lay a solid foundation for advancing to the elimination round.
Crystal Palace has seen a significant recovery in its recent competitive form and has achieved two consecutive victories in the Premier League, including a 2-0 victory over Brentford at home in the last round. After the team defeated Dynamo Kiev in the first round of the UEFA Europa League, the home team unexpectedly lost 0-1 to AEK Larnaca in the second round.
Despite the unexpected defeat in the European war, Crystal Palace's overall performance at the home team's stadium is still trustworthy. Their defense at the home court has been quite solid recently and they have kept clean sheets in the last two games. In addition, the team has scored at least 2 goals in 3 of the last 4 home games, showing its strong home team offensive power. Coach Glasner has achieved remarkable results in adjusting the team's competitive state. He tends to use a 3-4-2-1 formation and emphasizes a balance of offense and defense. Teams tend to be more proactive at home teams, using the insertion of wing backs and the fulcrum role of the fifth position to create murderous opportunities.
Alkmaar is undoubtedly the team in better competitive shape and has recently won five consecutive victories in various competitions. In the UEFA Europa League, they lost 0-4 to AEK Larnaca as an away team in the first round, but then defeated Bratislava 1-0 at home in the second round. There are certain hidden dangers in the team's performance in away games. Although the overall record in away games has been good recently (5 wins in the last 7 away games), their defense in away games in Europe is not stable. The 0-4 defeat in the last UEFA Champions League away game is the best proof. In addition, an unfavorable historical data is that Alkmaar has suffered defeats in all previous away games against English teams.
Alkmaar usually uses a 4-3-3 attacking formation, focusing on dribbling and layer-by-layer advancement. However, when facing teams with fast counterattacks and strong physical confrontation, their defense sometimes showed holes.
Crystal Palace faces certain injuries. Midfielder Doucoure, defender Riyad and forward Nketiah are all confirmed to be unable to play in this game due to injuries. Alkmaar also has players missing. Forward Merdinck and defender Shikuma Seiya are both out due to injuries. In addition, the experienced midfielder Krasi also has injury doubts, and whether he can play or not needs to be decided on the spot.
This will be the first official match between the two teams in history, and it will be an out-and-out encounter. Alkmaar has a poor overall record when facing English teams. In history, it has played against English teams 21 times and won only 3 games.
