Premier League season preview: Crystal Palace

Palace reached the FA cup final last season. Credit: PA

By Harry Hesp

New signings:

Andros Townsend (Newcastle United), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), James Tomkins (West Ham United)

Three solid signings so far. Questions have been raised about the £10m price-tag of Tomkins but it was clear Palace needed to plug holes and the former West Ham man offers versatility along the back four.

Townsend forms a pacey quintet of wingers including Wilfried Zaha, Jason Puncheon, Bakary Sako and Yannick Bolasie - either one can give full backs nightmares but they need a target to aim at - which is why Pardew is so keen to add Christian Benteke to his ranks.

Steve Mandanda has a wealth of experience having played over 400 games for Marseille, including Champions League football. He should go straight in at number one ahead of Wayne Hennessey who failed to convince last season.

Pardew’s main priority, having sold Dwight Gayle to Newcastle and let Emmanuel Adebayor go, is to get that Benteke deal over the line.

Sullay Kaikai has had a good pre-season. Credit: PA

Young gun:

Not too many broke through the ranks at Palace last year but Sullay Kaikai has caught the eye in pre-season with a few goals. He’s a winger, which means he has a lot of competition at Palace, but he could feature in the cup games if he's not shipped out on loan. Direct, skillful and pacey he scored 12 goals in just 25 starts on loan at Shrewsbury Town last season. Loves to take his marker on and get crosses into the box.

Social Media Star:

Bakary Sako is a big instagrammer. He was flying around on a water jet in Dubai this summer and we can also confirm he was spotted instagramming by our ITV Sport team in Paris during the Euros between a brief break in an intense personal training session at a 5-a-side centre.

Pardew needs more strikers. Credit: PA

Prediction: 12th

The woeful end to last season had Palace fans worrying and rightly so. FA Cup final aside, their league form was poor - they won two matches after boxing day - and ended up in 15th place.

But the ownership structure has been revamped to reflect investment from overseas and the three signings so far have proved that money is there to be spent.

However, an ambitious bid to land Michy Batshuayi has failed, the Benteke deal looks complicated and West Brom are demanding over-the-odds for Saido Berahino - their pursuit of a striker has been a frustrating one so far. They need one, if not two, as currently Connor Wickham is the only senior forward in the squad.

Mid-table beckons...