An all-Championship contest at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night and a tough match to call as the 3rd-place team in the table take on the league leaders for a place in the quarter final of the Carling Cup.

Southampton have been all guns blazing since beating Leeds United on the opening day of the season, although the reason behind their top spot in the Championship is six straight wins at St Mary’s rather than their away form.

Even so, Nigel Adkins’ team once again came from behind to earn a valuable point at Reading on Saturday, illustrating the character in the team and the bookmakers have them as 7/5 favourites (Victor Chandler – £25 free bets) to claim victory in this match.

We might see a few visiting players rotated and there could certainly be value in backing Palace at 21/10 (bet365 – £200 free betting) considering that they are the home team who have lost just once in front of their own supporters this term.

Dougie Freedman had already achieved hero status as a player for the Eagles and he is now steering the team in the right direction from the dug-out, with a 1-0 win at Ipswich meaning three straight victories for a team who were expected to struggle this term.

There are some exciting players within the Palace squad and that includes Wilfried Zaha who has managed five goals this season including three in this competition – something that makes him an interesting 9/1 chance to score the first goal of the game.

Rickie Lambert is clearly a goal machine for the Saints although he might be rested for this match and we might instead see Steve De Ridder in attack alongside David Connolly.