Crystal Palace vs Southampton preview - Doyle and Campbell contesting place

Kevin Doyle and Fraizer Campbell will battle it out to spearhead Crystal Palace's attack in the Boxing Day clash with Southampton at Selhurst Park.

Fit-again Doyle and Campbell will compete to lead Palace's one-man line for the Barclays Premier League contest, with Marouane Chamakh again ruled out through thigh trouble.

Manager Neil Warnock is looking to boost his strikeforce when the transfer window opens.

He said: "We've made offers for a number of strikers, especially when Chamakh's been missing we've lacked that physical presence.

"We've looked at two or three strikers from home and abroad, and we're hoping to get one of those over the line in the first couple of weeks.

"They've got to be good enough, they've got to be better than what we have.

"We've got some good strikers at the club, but we've got to be able to adapt, to change the system as well, and so we've got to try to find the strikers that can do that.

"That's what we're looking for; to give us another dimension."

Victory over Everton ended a miserable run of five consecutive defeats for Ronald Koeman's Saints, who have tumbled out of the top four after a difficult run of fixtures.

An excellent start to the campaign, however, means Southampton remain fifth, two points ahead of both Arsenal and Tottenham.

"At the start of the season, if they had shown me a piece of paper to sign that said we would be fifth in the competition at Christmas I would have said 'okay'," Koeman said.

"I am very proud and happy about that. We have had a bad two or three weeks with some defeats even though some of them were maybe unlucky.

"We had a good game against Everton, we played with good organisation and little by little during the game we got our confidence back.

"That's the most important thing now, winning games brings confidence back to the players."

Dusan Tadic is expected to return for Southampton but captain Jose Fonte is suspended against his old club.