Crystal Palace vs. Stoke Predictions: Eagles to progress in entertaining game

It's FA Cup time again and bizarrely we've got the odd spectacle of midweek games for the 5th round due to the Premier League winter break. All eight games are either on terrestrial TV or the red button and we will have full match previews and tips for all the matches on our dedicated FA Cup page. We've asked our man @OddsTerrier to look at the game between Crystal Palace v Stoke City on Tuesday and to give us his best two bets. The tie is live on the BBC red button and kicks off at 19:30.

Patrick Vieira is expected to ring the changes for the visit of Championship Stoke City in a game he will still expect to win. Palace look comfortably settled in mid table in the Premier League with neither relegation or European football likely, so this could be a welcome distraction and gives them the chance of a deep run in the competition. Palace have twice been runners up in the FA Cup and their fans would love them to go one place further and bring some much needed silverware to the south London club. Win here and a favourable 6th round tie and Wembley could come-a-calling.

They face a Stoke side that are in a poor run of form, winning just two of their last twelve in the Championship, which has seen them drop from the heady heights of 4th and a genuine automatic promotion push, all the way down to 15th. The Potters are 10 points below Luton Town in 6th and would need to have a stunning end to the season to mount a playoff charge. It looks unlikely...

My first pick is for Crystal Palace to win and there to be more than 2.5 goals in the game. 

Even should Vieira rotate the starting eleven as expected, they should still have enough quality to see off a mid-table Stoke side in a extremely poor run of form. The likes of Eberechi Eze, Will Hughes and Cheikhou Kouyate will be desperate to impress the boss should they be given the chance and will aim to show Vieira that they could do a job in the Premier League. Palace have won seven of their last eight games against Stoke in all competitions and over 2.5 goals has hit on each of the last three occasions. 

Palace have only failed to score twice in their last nine games and should have no problem doing so here. 56% of Palace games end in over 2.5 goals whereas 48% of Stoke games end that way. However, over 2.5 goals has hit in Stoke's last five games in the Championship.

The 13/8 on offer at William Hill looks on the large size given the above stats and it will be my main bet here.

My second selection is based around the exciting Palace attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze. The 23-year-old has had extremely limited opportunities this year after impressing, first at QPR and then in his first season with the Eagles, and should revel in the opportunity here, if given the chance to shine. Eze has only made one start this season, alongside five appearances from the bench, but his ability isn't in doubt. The former Arsenal academy graduate scored four times last year in 29 starts and the season before netted an impressive 14 times in 46 appearances for Rangers. This fixture could be exactly the chance Eze needs to ignite his season and I'm backing him to grab it with both hands.

Eze is best priced at 4/1 to score in the 90 minutes.