Southampton vs Crystal Palace Predictions: A low scoring draw awaits

The EPL season is trundling towards its conclusion and the second game of the day sees Crystal Palace travel to Southampton. Neil Monnery tries to smell out a value bet or two as he previews the encounter...

As the EPL season winds towards a close, we find plenty of games that don't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Neither Southampton or Crystal Palace are looking upwards towards the European places with any ambitions nor are they looking over their shoulder towards the relegation places. Both teams will be playing in the EPL when it starts up again in the fall so both teams should feel free to express themselves and entertain us with a thoroughly open and expansive game.

The sad truth however is neither team is good at that. Some may even go as far to say that neither team are any good full stop.

The home team welcome back Englishman Danny Ings who still has his eyes on representing his country at Euro 2021. The 28 year-old striker has found the back of the net ten times for his club in the league this time around and is undoubtedly their talisman. His return to the squad will be a massive boost to a team that have struggled in recent weeks - scoring just twice in their past five games and that included a humbling 3-0 reverse against West Brom.

On-loan Liverpool front man Takumi Minamino also returns to the squad having been ineligible to play against his parent club on Saturday.

As for the visitors, they are nearly as woeful in front of goal as the hosts having scored six in their past six. Manager Roy Hodgson has done a good job with a threadbare squad to keep them comfortably above the relegation zone but their lack of quality at the top of the pitch bar Wilfried Zaha is a long-term problem that needs to be addressed.

One answer could be the play of Eberechi Eze who is really starting to look like a real find. The player - signed for a reported $24million in August last year - was unleashed from a central position at Sheffield United at the weekend and excelled including scoring a wonderful solo goal. He is available at +450 to score at anytime with BetMGM and that isn't a bad shout - certainly if he continues to play in that more central position.

Pick: Overall however, I just don't see this game being full of goals - or quality. Therefore I've taken a look as the tie lines and think there is good betting value at +550 in backing the 1-1 tie.