Crystal Palace vs Liverpool Bet Builder Tips: Ayew headlines 9/1 #PickYourPunt treble

Crystal Palace host Liverpool at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon (KO, 12:30) in the first Premier League game of the weekend.

The visitors will arrive in South London in a buoyant mood after two wins in four days saw them keep pace with leaders Arsenal, and a victory in SE12 will put them, temporarily at least, ahead of the Gunners, who face Aston Villa away later in the day.

Palace aren't looking so healthy, however, with a 2-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth on Wednesday piling the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson.

Using Betfred's #PickYourPunt feature, we have picked out a 9/1 treble for the TNT Sports lunchtime kick-off.

Trent Alexander Arnold 1+ assist

The first leg of this #PickYourPunt bet involves a man on everyone's lips at the moment. Liverpool's vice-captain is rarely out of the headlines, but it seems people are appreciating him for the world-class talent he is at the moment. After Kieran Trippier's disasterclass for Newcastle United against Everton on Thursday night, perhaps other English right-backs do make mistakes as well?

Anyway, before I fire another broadside at the online mischief-makers and Gareth Southgate, it's pertinent to review Alexander-Arnold's recent attacking statistics. The 25-year-old has scored or assisted in his last four games, finding the net against Manchester City and Fulham and setting a teammate up against LASK and Sheffield United.

It was a slow start to the season, at least in an attacking sense, for the Reds academy graduate, but he looks to be revelling in the responsibility he has been handed by Jurgen Klopp this season.

Palace have been all over the place defensively in recent weeks, conceding eight across their last four games, seven of them to teams in the bottom half. Liverpool should be dominating possession and winning plenty of corners on Saturday, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Alexander-Arnold whip one in for Virgil van Dijk or Darwin Nunez to score.

Jordan Ayew 2+ shots

Now we switch on to the Jordan Ayew show. The Palace forward is often derided for his lack of goals, but it's not for the want of trying.

The Ghanaian has fired off 28 shots in 15 Premier League appearances so far. That's nearly an average of two per game, which is exactly what we have in mind here.

With Eberechi Eze out of the side, Hodgson is putting much of his faith in Ayew, Michael Olise and Odsonne Edouard to find the answers to the team's attacking issues. Olise, though, is more of a creator, so it's really down to Ayew and Edouard to shoot at goal.

Ayew certainly wasn't shy on Wednesday, registering six shot attempts against the Cherries to no avail.

Hodgson doesn't appear to fancy youngsters Matheus Franca or Malcolm Ebiowei to affect the game, so Ayew is likely to play the majority of Saturday's match, if not all of it. If he gets a chance to shoot, expect him to take it against a side who allowed Sheffield United's Cameron Archer to take four efforts at Bramall Lane in midweek.

Jordan Ayew 2+ fouls

Ayew can't be accused of not doing his defensive work, either, which is probably why he has been such a fixture in the Palace team over the years.

He's often in the thick of the action, as evidenced by the 25 fouls he has made this term, which puts him joint-seventh in the Premier League fouls table.

Ayew has made a foul in each of his last three appearances, including two in each of his last two, and he's likely to be ruffling more feathers on Saturday afternoon.