Palace splashed out £2 million on Skonta Riga's Latvian international Andrejs Rubins in October. The pacey wideman has settled in well and bagged a classic goal in the Worthington Cup semi-final against Liverpool. West Brom (h) drew 2-2 Forssell, Pollock
Liverpool (a WC) lost 5-0
Gillingham (h) drew 2-2 Freedman, Forssell
Sunderland (h FAC) lost 2-4 Morrison, Thompson
Nottm Forest (a) won 0-3 Forsell (2), Freedman
Liverpool (h WC) won 2-0 Morrison, Rubins SEASON SO FAR After a poor start to the season Palace have climbed towards mid-table on the back of a run of just two defeats in 15 League games. Alan Smith has his feet well and truly back under the table at Selhurst Park, having returned for his second spell as manager last summer. Smith left Fulham's youth academy to go back to Palace and having made a handful of new signings is now stamping his mark on the club again. Clinton Morrison leads the way with 17 league and cup goals. The 21-year-old striker was also top scorer last season and after a a kick up the backside from his manager the season has rarely been off the scoresheet. Banned goalkeeper Alex Kolinko will be replaced by Matthew Gregg but Hayden Mullins is expected to return from suspension after missing last Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Brom. Neil Ruddock is left out after being transfer-listed. On-loan striker Mikael Forssell is in a rich vein of form up front. The Finnish international is with Palace from Chelsea for the season and after the Blues complained that he wasn't being used enough Forssell has become one of the main men with 12 goals and four in his last three League games. Palace's record signing is Valerien Ismael, who cost £2.75 million when he signed from RC Strasbourg in January, 1998 but only played a handful of games at Selhurst Park.
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