Team news

Eagles wait on duo Crystal Palace hope to welcome back strikers Calvin Andrew and Alan Lee for the visit of West Brom.

Andrew missed last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Derby as he was still feeling the effects of a clash of heads the week before which left QPR defender Damion Stewart with a fractured skull.

Lee has been struggling with a groin injury recently but was back in training this week.

The Eagles will be without left-back Lee Hills, who will miss the rest of this season and a large chunk of the next after suffering a cruciate injury at Pride Park.

Claude Davis will return at centre-half if he can shake off a knee injury which means Clint Hill could revert to full-back, otherwise Nathaniel Clyne is likely to deputise.

Palace can secure their survival and condemn Sheffield Wednesday to the drop with a victory over promoted Albion.

West Brom boss Roberto Di Matteo will check on goalkeeper Scott Carson.

Carson suffered an ankle injury in last weekend`s 2-0 home win against Middlesbrough and was replaced at half-time by Dean Kiely.

Kiely is on stand by to deputise while Di Matteo will again be without a trio of players still absent through injury.

Right-back Gianni Zuiverloon (thigh), winger Jerome Thomas (hamstring) and defender Gonzalo Jara (broken metatarsal) are all set to miss out again.

Striker Roman Bednar needs to undergo a hernia operation but will do so in the summer, meaning he should again be available.

Crystal Palace 1-1 West Brom

Last modified 11:00 27/04/10

Crystal Palace’s Championship future will be decided at Hillsborough on Sunday.

Lose in Sheffield against relegation rivals Wednesday then, and Paul Hart’s men can look forward to trips to Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth in League One next season.

Draw or win against the Owls, and Palace will be able to breathe again.

But they will have to do it all without Neil Danns, who was sent off in the 82nd minute for a headbutt on Graham Dorrans.

It all looked so promising for the Eagles last night – for about four minutes.

That was the time it took between West Brom’s Steven Reid to hammer Palace in front with an own goal, and Gabriel Tamas to equalise with an emphatic near-post header.

Reid, on loan from Blackburn, might have suspected he was in for a tough night from the Palace boo boys because of his earlier career at rivals Millwall.

And the Ireland defender looked distraught as he connected with a free-kick from the right by Darren Ambrose to steer the ball past Scott Carson.

But the Baggies responded in style. Chris Brunt curled in a great free-kick with his left foot from the right and Tamas, the Romanian on loan from French club Auxerre, got there first and the ball flew into the roof of the net.

The game started at 100mph pace, with Palace adopting a philosophy of getting the ball forward as quickly as possible.

It seemed to have paid dividends when they took the lead after 17 minutes.

Selhurst Park was rocking to chants of “We are staying up”, but the Baggies had the home fans biting their fingernails with Tamas’s equaliser. A shell-shocked Palace had to rally, and had the chance to retake the lead just past the half-hour.

Danns smashed an effort straight at Carson’s chest from 10 yards, then Calvin Andrew agonisingly turned the rebound over the bar with his diving header.

But then it was one-way traffic for a spell as Roberto Di Matteo’s men turned on their promotion style.

First the lively Simon Cox burst past Patrick ­McCarthy only to fire straight at Julian Speroni.

Then, from the corner, Roman Bednar cannoned a header back off the bar to see Robert Koren somehow skew his effort over from six yards from the rebound. Bednar then picked out Brunt in the box with a delightful pass, but Speroni again blocked.

And as Hart prayed for half-time in the home dugout, there was still time for Dorrans to bring out a spectacular save from Speroni with a looping volley from 20 yards, and Bednar to clip just past the post when he beat the offside trap deep into first-half stoppage time.

Things got no better for Palace after the break when Bednar sprung the offside trap to have a clear run at the Palace goal, but the superb Speroni dashed out to smother well.

Palace Boss Paul Hart said of the trip to Sheffield: "We don't have to win - our away form is excellent so it's a game to look forward to.

"We just have to turn out another performance of that calibre.

"The players are tired. They threw everything at it. But they can see we've got a good chance of staying up.

"I don't think you can play for the draw. You have to go and play to win.

"We are in a better position that Sheffield Wednesday and so we have to make it count."

Albion manager Roberto di Matteo said: "I'm very pleased with that and the players deserved it.

"We had enough chances to win the game and feel we should have won."