Crystal Palace returning to the Premier League after an eight-year absence

Crystal Palace are back in the Premier League and will start the season as relegation favourites against Totthenam in the first game of an initial schedule featuring probable key relegation battles against Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea and Southampton in their first six fixtures. Palace will try to execute a counter attacking game play with low defensive back line to neutralize Tottenham’s pace. They will go with the 4-2-3-1 with Jose Campana playing in a deep playmaker role trying to orchestrate the counter attacks and with Jonathan Williams playing as an inverted winger. When not in possession, Palace will stick to a compact and narrow line up to stop Spurs midfielders from passing to Soldado. Known for employing an attacking philosophy for the majority of his time at Bloomfield Road regardless of the opposition, Holloway has conceded he may have to play a little more defensively this time around. "Hopefully we can stop the opposition doing whatthey are doing," he said. "We can break it up and then go and score ourselves and get three points instead of none and get to 40 points so we can do it again [next season]. What I've got to do is stay calm, keep my feet on the ground, keep working and keep being realistic. "I need to give them tactics that I have picked up along the way that might stop some of these teams who have got technically better players." Despite the slow recruitment and the loss of Wilfried Zaha, there are reasons for optimism. The Australia midfielder Mile Jedinak could prove he’s worth the Premier League, and Julián Speroni is a consistent goalkeeper. There is excitement for the arrivals of Dwight Gayle from Peterborough and Marouane Chamakh on loan from Arsenal. And you also will have to take a look to the captain of Spain Under-20s team, José Campaña, a deep-lying midfielder that is a rough diamond. He will have to strength the midfield alongside Williams and Yannick Bolasie. Gayle is the club's record signing from Peterborough for an initial £4.5m and he scored 13 goals in 29 games last season. Chamakh is a risk but it’s good to take. He has the pedigree and Holloway hopes he can flourish in the way to fill the void left by the injured Glenn Murray whose 31 league goals last season were the key of the team's promotion. He will have to boast a forward bunch featuring also Elliot Grandin and Stephen Dobbie.