Slowly Sinking to Their Rendezvous

Apologies to The Band

Such an apt description for Newcastle and the Union.

Despite clerking at Penn Relays, I did get to see much of the action thanks to the electronic marvel of DVR.  Spoiler alert: Many of the results are not good.

What's the Opposite of Pyrrhic Victory?

Nothing Eze about this shot - it was unstoppable:
David Klein/Reuters

Newcastle actually played pretty well in a fixture that has been historically disastrous.  They made
Arsenal sweat out a narrow 1-0 win with the only goal coming on a brilliant strike by Eze.  They basically gave as good as (or even better than) they got.  Possession was 55/45, shots were 13/11 and xG was 1/.49, all favor the Magpies; Arsenal did have a slight advantage in shots on target at 4/3.   Of course, Newcastle still got no points for the effort and saw their chances of relegation rise from .01% to .09%.

Run That By Me Again

So after we basically awarded Aston Villa one of the five Champions League berths in last week's post, they of course went out and lost 1-0 to Fulham.  Along with Liverpool's win over Crystal Palace, the loss dropped them to fifth place.  However, with an eight point lead over 6th place Brighton, the Villans are still a good bet for top five.  Fourth or fifth, Villa fans probably won't care either way.

But the rest of the league does care because Aston Villa still have another route to next year's Champions League - win the Europa League.  Should Villa finish fifth but win the Europa League, their spot earned via the EPL finish would go to the sixth place team.  Oddly, if they finish fourth and win Europa League, the spot goes to another league.  Say what?

The fifth spot allocated to the EPL is called the European performance spot and is based on the relative ranking of the EPL compared to other European associations.  Due to an incredible quirk in the rules, that spot is treated differently than one of the four "regular" qualifying spots.  If a club qualifies by winning the Champions League or Europa League and also finishes in the top four, the EPL's regular allocation of four is reduced by one; the EPS is not affected so the EPL would still have five entries.  However, if the team doesn't finish in top four and earns the Champions League berth via the EPS, the rules specifically allocate that the EPS to the sixth place finisher.  Who dreams this stuff up?

Just for fun I checked Opta predictions to see which sides they believe are "still in the hunt."  Turns out it goes all the way down to 13th place Crystal Palace who still have a .17% chance of finishing sixth.   I suppose this is good in a way because just about every match for the next few weeks will matter.  But I also wonder does it create some "perverse incentives."  According to this article in the NYT, turns out it might. The money quote: 

The chasing pack may be breathing down their necks, but the above scenario throws up the possibility that Chelsea could be incentivised to lose away to Liverpool on May 9. Liverpool are three points behind Villa, boast a superior goal difference and have been eliminated from all other competitions, giving them room to focus solely on the league.

Unless Chelsea achieve the unlikely and overtake Liverpool from their current position seven points behind the outgoing champions, it would be in their interests for Arne Slot’s side to finish ahead of Villa, shunting Emery and company down into fifth. Chelsea will still have two more games to play after that trip to Anfield but, in the final reckoning, a loss there might help their Champions League cause.

Whoops.

Status Quo In Relegation Race

All three relegation contenders came away with three points so the relative standings did not change.  Nottingham Forest had the easiest time, dispatching Sunderland 5-0 on Friday, allowing them to sit back on Saturday and watch their pursuers sweat it out.  Wolves and Spurs seemed destined to finish in a 0-0 draw, with not too many scoring chances (xG was .70-.92 favor Spurs).  Palhinha rescued Spurs bacon with a 82nd minute goal for a 1-0 final.  Meanwhile in London, West Ham spent most of the second half nursing a 1-0 lead over Everton.  An 88th minute goal from Tewksbury-Hall leveled things and for a time, dropped the Hammers behind Spurs.  A stoppage time goal from Callum Wilson, seen here, gave West Ham all three points and kept them two ahead of Spurs.

So how did the weekend change the relegation odds?  Spurs went up slightly from 58 to 59%, West Ham stayed flat at 38% and Forest dropped from 4% to 2%.  

In "A Great Match for the Neutral," It's More Fun To Be Neutral

Taking in the first leg of PSG versus Bayern, I had a very slight rooting interest for the German side but not all that much.  Therefore, I was able to enjoy the 5-4 contest favor PSG that had just about everything.  At  5-2 I was so close to moving on to something else except I realized there was nothing else I needed to move on to.  

This will not stand

I was a little less of neutral for Atletico - Arsenal and it was a much different contest.  They finished 1-1 with both goals coming on PKs.  Also, there was a PK call overturned (see picture left) which left Arsenal fuming.  To be sure, this was a tough call either way.  My bias here is that it was called a PK on the field and you can see there was contact.  The cleaner result would have been for the ref not to call it on the field.  I had been expected a tense but basically uneventful contest and was pleasantly surprised at how watchable this was.

What are you doing Luca?

I was definitely not neutral for Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest and while the 1-0 loss was not a
disaster, their play was disappointing.  The only goal came on a brain cramp of epic proportions by Luca Digne (see right).  As the ball was heading out for possible goal kick for Villa, Hutchinson rescued it by the slimmest of margins and it went to directly to Digne, who for unknown reasons, had thrown both arms in the air.  To what purpose? If the ball goes out it's a goal kick  Chris Wood buried the PK and that was the extent of the scoring.

Crystal Palace had the best result of the EPL sides, getting a 3-1 result on the road against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Meet Me Halfway, Take A Shot

Recall the old Italian (Jewish, insert nationality here) about the man praying to God to help him win the lottery, recounted here.  I did not see the Union's 2-0 loss to Columbus but was sort of following on line.  When I first tuned at about 10 minutes, it was already 1-0, and the Union had three shots, none on target.  It stayed that way for about another hour prompting Dennis to note "a 2-0 lead is second most dangerous in soccer but only if the trailing team can mount an attack."  They did rally for some shots in the final minutes but to no avail.  I had also noticed that Columbus was stuck on four shots, three on target.  Then the goal is posted but the shots don't change.  How can that be?  Oh crap, the dreaded own goal.  Seen here, we appear to be a bad team with bad luck. 

You Make the Call

BFS Track and Field Consultant Jack W sends along this video from a youth soccer match. Note that the attacking team didn't stop and put the ball in the net anyway.  BFS Referee Consultant Graham R and I have been trying to dissect what is the correct call here.  The answer depends on whether you consider the adult who pushed the player a team official or an outside agent.  If the latter, the call is a dropped ball for the defending team since the ball would have been inside the 18 when he stopped play for outside interference.  That does seem incredibly unfair but them's the rules.

There are two possibilities if you consider the adult a team official.  First, since this would be a violation under Law 12, the referee could play advantage, which in this case ended up with a goal being scored.  If the referee blew the whistle before the ball went into the net, the restart is a direct from kick from the spot of the infraction; since this was inside the 18, that's a PK.

For both Graham and I, the real takeaway here is that this is exactly why you don't allow anyone to hang around the goal.

You Know the Drill

Pretty much the same as last week except this time there's a full EPL calendar.  Things get underway Friday at 3 pm with a match that appears to have nothing riding on it - Leeds vs Burnley.  The Clarets fate is sealed in a bad way and Leeds are safe from both relegation and European competition.

All three Saturday 10 matches have consequences.  West Ham continue to fight for their EPL lives while Brentford are still in the hunt for Europe in one form or another.  Wolves are done but Sunderland aren't out of Europe yet.  But we will be taking in Newcastle - Brighton to see if the Magpies can drop that relegation chance to 0.00% while Brighton remain in the thick of their chance to finish 6th (or better).  Opta has it 40/33/27 favor Magpies but that sounds "opta-mistic" to me. The feature 12:30 contest is a London derby between Arsenal and Fulham.  The Gunners have no room for error and need these three points.

Sunday has three more matches that matter, spaced out in an odd way.  Bournemouth - Crystal Palace are at 9, Man United - Liverpool are at 10:30 and Aston Villa - Spurs are at 2 pm.  Villa and Liverpool will be looking to solidify their Champions League credentials.  Bournemouth will want to protect their position at 7th in the table. Spurs will be hoping for any result to help in their fight to stay up.

The matchweek concludes with a weird 10 am weekday kickoff for Chelsea - Nottingham Forest, then a more normal 3 pm start for Everton - Man City.  Again, all of those sides are either looking to end their relegation threat or improve their chances for Europe next year.

For this year's European competitions, just flip the home and away sides from last week's schedule.

We will be at Subaru Park for the Union versus Nashville as well as a sausage sandwich. Only one of those things is a sure bet to satisfy.

A heads up.  I did the Thursday edits with some kind of nasty cold or something similar.  In other words, I was less clear headed than even usual.  All errors are mine, not staff's.

Game On

Well, except for Newcastle, who continue to sink into irrelevance. I mean for the EPL title race, places in the European competitions and the final relegation spot.  

Different Tune, Same Chorus

Newcastle found a new way to get to a 2-1 loss but it still involved conceding a late goal.  After falling behind to Bournemouth in the first half, they leveled the match at 68 minutes on some good work by our only apparent offensive weapon William Osula.  He received what looked like a killer pass from Guimaraes and did some nice solo work for the goal only to see the flag go up for offside.  The replay showed Osula was indeed in an offside position when he received the pass but it also revealed that the brilliant pass from Bruno was actually an "own assist" from the foot of Bournemouth's Evanilson; thus the goal stood.  You can see the play here.  Unfortunately, the game winner would come from Truffert in the 85 minute and the Magpies got their third straight 2-1 loss.  

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place and Kinda Sorta Did

Steve: I wonder who leads the league in dropped points from tied positions.  It's gotta be Newcastle.

Dennis: Since every match starts out level at 0-0, it's simply games played minus wins and draws.  The leader is Wolves with 22, followed by Burnley 21.

Steve: 

Also, time stamps will prove that I texted the question to Dennis mere seconds before Newcastle conceded the winning goal to Bournemouth.

Gunners OutManned

Vastly more entertaining than the EFL Cup Final, this edition of Man City versus Arsenal was a tense 2-1 win for City.  The Citizens got an early lead on a nice shot by Cherki that was almost immediately negated by this incredible howler from Donnarumma.  The game winner game from Haaland, who basically outmuscled Gabriel for a header inside the six.  The two ended up in a tussle later in the contest, getting matching yellows for extracurricular activities; for our money, Gabriel should have seen red for the headbutt.

My headline is perhaps a bit unfair to Arsenal.  They did have several good chances to equalize and weren't badly outplayed by City.  Expected goals at 1.91 - 1.81 (favor City) were pretty close, suggests a draw wouldn't have been an outrageous result.

Gabriel is no angel

Perhaps the better news for Arsenal is that Opta still has them winning the league.  Their chances dropped from 85% to 73% and City still have the game in hand.  They dropped to 71% after City's 1-0 midweek win over Burnley.  However, as outlined here, Arsenal do have an easier schedule compared to Man City. The Gunners have Newcastle (well there's a sure three points), Fulham, West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace.  City have Burnley, Everton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.  Should be fun to watch.

Do Spurs DeZerbi Relegated?

Well, they did have a better quality of crappy result in Roberto DeZerbi's first match in charge of Tottenham, a 2-2 draw with Brighton.  They definitely played better than in recent weeks.  And yet, it was very Spurs-like in that they gave up equalizing goals in both first half and second half stoppage time.  

Meanwhile, everybody above them were getting points too.  Leeds pretty much put their relegation chances to bed with a 3-0 win over Wolves.  Nottingham Forest also got three points from a 4-1 defeat of Burnley.  And, West Ham maintained their two point lead over Spurs with a surprisingly interesting 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.  

I was a little surprised to see that Opta has Spurs as the likely third team out.  They are at 58%, West Ham is 38%, Forest is 4%.  I see that Newcastle are .01% (so you're telling me there's still a chance).

"Post" Season

Most of the spots for next year's various European competition are wide open.  Arsenal and Man City are in for Champions League.  Wins for Man United (1-0 over Chelsea) and Aston Villa (4-3 in a wild one over Sunderland - check out Tammy Abraham's winner in stoppage time, this week's YouTubeableMoment ) have them sitting pretty.  Liverpool look like the best bet for the expected fifth spot.

The Europa League and Europa Conference League spots are in play for pretty much anyone not in the relegation race.  I kid but only sort of.  It's also complicated by who might win the FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.  This article tries to make some sense of the picture.

I did get a good laugh when Ian Darke suggested during the Newcastle-Bournemouth telecast that the Magpies were sort of in the hunt for one of those spots.  You can see my reaction here.

Merry Go Round Goes Around Again

Well this is brilliant.  Chelsea have sacked Liam Rosenior after barely three months in the position - he was hired on 1/6/26.  Overall he was 11-2-11 but was 5-2-7 in EPL play.  Tuesday's 3-0 loss to Brighton was Chelsea's fifth straight league scoreless defeat.  He was having a good run in the FA Cup, though many will note that none of his four wins there were against Premier League sides. They were smoked pretty badly by PSG in the Champions League Round of 16 and lost to Arsenal in the EFL Cup semis.  Also too, they lost to Newcastle, which is hard to do these days.

But I am not here to defend his admittedly checkered record. I am here to ridicule BlueCo (Chelsea ownership) for firing their fifth manager since September 2022.  In that time, they've gone through Tuchel, Potter, Pochettino, Maresca and Rosenior.  One is left with two conclusions in situations like this and neither is flattering - either you did such an incredibly shitty job in choosing the guy that you can't afford to have him on the job for one more day, or you have the patience of a four year old.   Not that Chelsea ownership is alone on this.  We have Spurs (Frank and Tudor), West Ham (Potter), Nottingham Forest (Dyche and Postecoglou) among others.  Happy to see teams "rewarded" for this type of behavior with poor results.

    

Two Points for the Union

Jeff H provided a succinct review of the Union's 0-0 draw with DC United in last week's comments section.  For your convenience, we provide a copy here:

The U continued to struggle on a cool night in Chester. Had most of the possession, corners, shots and shots on goal. But couldn’t finish. Cav came on in the 63rd and made a difference, but to no avail. Alladoh played the whole match but was mostly invisible. 0-0 tie, so a point at home? And we are not DFL in the east. On the positive side- Kelly Davis! Attended the match, enjoyed a great sausage sandwich and convo w the Sullivan’s.

As with too many Union matches lately, the sausage sandwich was again the highlight of the trip to Subaru Park.

Wednesday's 3-3 draw in Toronto was nuts.  A quality goal from Iloski and a "lucky strike" from Danley put the Union up 2-0.  But the "fun" was just beginning.  Josh Sargent got one back at 56 minutes and Kobe Franklin leveled the match at 64 minutes.  Undeterred, the Union took the lead in the 89th minute after Bedoya did one of his patented flick-on headers to Harriel, who buried it for the winning go ahead goal.

The keeper never scores; well almost never
Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP

You know the play where the keeper for the team trailing by a goal comes up for a free kick in the dying seconds of the game?  Works about once every 50 years, right?  Well it worked this time.  Toronto keeper Luka Gavran actually didn't score on the free kick itself but when the ball wasn't cleared he stayed in the box just in case.  He was rewarded when a high looping cross came his way and he got his 6'6" frame above everybody else and headed it in for the equalizer.  You can see the play here. Given all that Blake has done for this team we are a bit reluctant to point this out but it sure looks like he made a mistake coming out for that ball.  We also thought he got his positioning wrong on the Sargent goal.

With five points in the last three matches, things have been looking a little better but the hole is incredibly deep.

Still Busy

The weekend EPL slate is slightly truncated as they fit in three fixtures midweek to accommodate the FA Cup semis, leaving just seven for the weekend. Just about all are relevant in one way or another.

Friday has Sunderland - Nottingham Forest with Forest trying to stay ahead of Spurs and West Ham.

Bright and early Saturday am is Fulham Aston Villa; both have shots at some European competitions so they'll be trying hard.  There are three 10 am matches including West Ham - Everton, Wolves - Tottenham and Liverpool - Palace.  West Ham and Spurs are working to avoid relegation, Everton have a legitimate shot at Europa League or Europa Conference League and Liverpool can't afford to slip up if they want to hang on to a Champions League spot.  I'd probably go with West Ham - Everton as it looks the most competitive but any of them good be a good watch.

We'll be serving as an infield clerk at the Penn Relays so we won't be able to watch Arsenal - Newcastle at 12:30.  This is such an historically bad fixture for the Magpies, I can't say I'm sorry I'll miss it.  No matches on Sunday but there is Man United - Brentford on Monday.

The aforementioned FA Cup semis are Man City vs Southampton on Saturday and Chelsea - Leeds on Sunday.

Midweek has the first leg of the semi finals of the three European competitions:

Champions League has:

PSG - Bayern on Tuesday

Arsenal - Atletico Madrid on Wednesday

Europa League has:

Nottingham Forest - Aston Villa on Thursday

Braga - SC Freiburg on Thursday

Europa Conference League has:

Rayo Vallencano - Strasbourg on Thursday

Shakhtar Donetsk - Crystal Palace on Thursday

Union are away to Columbus Saturday night.

That's right, football seven days a week.

 

While We Were Away...

Limited and choppy viewing combined with a busy schedule means I missed a lot and don't remember some of what I saw.  Also, the sun was in my eyes.

Newcastle Did Not Miraculously Improve

Osula was not lying down on the job, he was scoring

In fact, they sang the same old song.  Get a 1-0 lead, play sloppy, give up late goals and lose 2-1. The Magpies goal was a marvel of coordination by Osula while lying on the pitch.  Of course, they never added to the lead and when Mateta came on at 66 minutes, the feeling of dread ramped up.  He leveled things at 80 minutes with a nice header.  A draw still seemed to be the most obvious outcome until Sven Botman's brain cramp in the box in stoppage time (more on that below) gave Palace a PK, which Mateta promptly dispatched.

Certainly the Magpies did not deserve a win here and arguably not even a draw.  They add three more to their league-leading tally of 25 points dropped from winning positions, five better than second worst West Ham.  With so much talk about possible summer departures of key players like Tonali, Guimaraes, Gordon, Livramento and Hall, you wonder where this team is heading.

Things Could Be Worse

We could be Spurs.  With a 1-0 loss to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and West Ham's 4-0 win over Wolves, Spurs are now squarely in the relegation zone, two points behind the Hammers.  Certainly with six matches to go, this is far from over.  They have fixtures with Brighton, Wolves, Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton so there are some possible points to be garnered.  I'd say West Ham and Nottingham Forest have relatively similar run-ins, so this could be quite close.

The Sheen Is Coming Off the Gunners' Season

They had already lost in the League Cup final and two weeks ago they fell to Southampton in the FA Cup quarterfinals.  Their seeming stranglehold on the Premier League doesn't look so solid anymore either after a 2-1 loss at home to Bournemouth.  We'll make Alex Scott's 74th-minute gamewinner this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Yes, they do have a six point lead over Man City but City have a game in hand (vs Crystal Palace).  And look at this, the two face off this Sunday!  

Champions League went a little better but not all that much.  They squeaked by Sporting 1-0 on aggregate, getting a goal late away but not adding any insurance back at the Emirates.  They'll face Atletico Madrid in the semis and will have to do better than this to get to the final.

FA Cup

I did see most of the quarterfinal action, which varied widely in quality.  There was nothing to recommend in Man City's 4-0 trashing of Liverpool or Chelsea's beat down of Port Vale.  Things got more interesting from there. Southampton gave Arsenal a very tough time at St. Mary's.  Arsenal got a 68th minute goal from Gyokeres to level things but Shea Charles stunned the Gunners with the game winner at 86 minutes.  West Ham - Leeds was an absolute barnburner.  Leeds carried a 2-0 lead into stoppage time.  The Hammers proceeded to score two to send the match to extra time.  When that failed to produce a winner, they went on to PKs, which Leeds won 4-2.

The semis on 4/25 and 4/26 are set with Man City playing Southampton and Chelsea squaring off against Leeds.

 

The View From Europe

Four Premier League teams still alive in European competitions.

As mentioned above, Arsenal advanced, but just barely.  Liverpool were not so fortunate, putting up symmetric 2-0 losses home and away for a 4-0 loss on aggregate to PSG.  Barcelona managed to get red cards in both of their quarterfinal matches against Atletico Madrid and fell 3-2 on aggregate.  Probably should have watched the Bayern - Real Madrid series.  Bayern brought a 2-1 lead home from the first leg.  They proceeded to cough up that lead three times in the second leg before two late goals gave them a 6-4 win on aggregate.  Bayern will take on PSG in the semis.

In Europa League, Aston Villa had little trouble with Bologna winning 3-1 on the road and 4-0 at home for a 7-1 aggregate.  Nottingham Forest got a 1-1 draw away and a 1-0 home win for a 2-1 overall win to advance to the semis where they'll face Villa.  Braga and SC Freiburg is the other semi.

In Conference League, Crystal Palace's 3-0 home win held up to a 2-1 road loss to Fiorentina so they advance to the semis to take on Shaktar Donetsk.  The other semi is Rayo Vallecano versus Strasbourg.

A Rant on Grabbing

Botman is caught red and blue handed

Sven Botman gave away penalty in stoppage time thanks to a shirt pull.  I can't believe he didn't get a yellow for this.  And then a second yellow for vehemently protesting his innocence.  The shirt is pulled at least six inches away from his back.  In what world is this not a penalty?  Seriously, what is he thinking?  Newcastle are still whining about this being a soft penalty because Lerma went down so easily and suggesting maybe it should have gone to VAR.  Sorry, but the plumage don't enter into it.  Rob Jones could easily see that Botman had a fistful of shirt and Lerma was going in the opposite direction.  There is an easy way to avoid this - don't grab the shirt.

Martinez grabbing some pony tail

Then we have the straight red card for Lisandro Martinez's tug on Dominic Calvert-Lewin's pony tail during Man United's 2-1 loss to Leeds.  This was not spotted by Paul Tierney and he was sent to VAR to make the determination.  Cue the outrage.  Even color commentator Graeme LeSaux was not thrilled with the call.   LeSaux went on about how little it affected the play and wasn't thrilled that it was a VAR intervention. Except, as explained here by ESPN, Tierney had no choice - hair pulling, regardless of force, is considered violent conduct. The ESPN article does discuss whether there will be some modification this summer to that directive.

I hope they leave it alone.  There's no excuse for grabbing the hair.  Frankly, I'd be fine if they issued a directive that said if you close your hand around any part of the uniform or body part other than the face, it's a foul regardless of force.  There is simply no legitimate reason to grab.  But, but, there will be calls on every corner.  Fine, if it stops this nonsense.  Also every time I start getting soft on VAR, a play like this reminds me of the value of letting players know you likely won't get away with this stuff.

There, I feel better.

Union Split

I did see the 2-1 loss at Charlotte but all I remember now is being annoyed that it was Zaha who got the game winner.  I saw highlights of the 2-1 win at Montreal.  So the Union are on the board.  How much we make of the win is up for speculation since the U were neck and neck with them for the worst team in the Eastern Conference.  

Get Ready For Musical Chairs

Oliver Glasner has already announced he'll be leaving Crystal Palace at the end of the season.  This week we heard that Andoni Iraola will be saying goodbye to Bournemouth when his contract expires when the 25-26 season concludes.  He is being mentioned as a possible replacement for Glasner but has also been linked with the Spanish side Athletic Club.  Eddie Howe's future at Newcastle is far from certain.  Right now it looks like he makes it to summer but not clear after that.  What's this?  Mourinho is being mentioned as a replacement?  Just shoot me now.

This Week

Just a regular match week for the EPL.  The 7:30 Saturday match between Brentford and Fulham probably won't be an incentive to get up early.  Just two matches at 10 am.  We'll be taking in Newcastle - Bournemouth with minimal expectations at this point.  Your other choice is Leeds - Wolves, which probably qualifies as relegation-relevant though Leeds are looking pretty safe at this point.  The 12:30 feature match is a critical test for Spurs as they host Brighton.  Yikes, Opta has Spurs as underdogs even at home.  The special 3 pm match is also important, with Man United facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge; that one has Champions League implications written all over it.

Sunday at 9 am is a busy time slot.  You can go for the relegation-relevant Nottingham Forest vs Burnley, a Merseyside Derby or Aston Villa - Sunderland.  Good reasons to go with any of those choices.  Then we have one vs two with Man City hosting Arsenal at 11:30, a six pointer if ever there was one.  Opta says 40% City, 34% Arsenal, 26% draw.  Hope this one lives up to its billing as last time (League Cup final) it was not all that interesting.

The match week concludes Monday with a London derby with relegation implications.  Crystal Palace are safe but West Ham are in the thick of a relegation battle so this one at Selhurst Park should be good.

The Union go for two in a row against DC United at Subaru Park.