Three players Crystal Palace should consider buying in January

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A striker should be top of Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace shopping list for the New Year.

Crystal Palace badly need to improve their squad in January if they are to stand any chance of escaping relegation.

A striker should be top of Roy Hodgson’s wish-list, but there are other areas of concern the Eagles need to address.

Here are three players that Palace should consider buying when the transfer window reopens…

Charlie Austin

Palace are desperately short up top, and of goalscorers all over the pitch in general. Wilfried Zaha is their only player to score from open play in 11 Premier League matches, and he has missed much of the early season.

Austin proved in his time at Queens Park Rangers that he can find the net for a struggling side, scoring 18 times in their 2014-15 relegation season, and is not getting the opportunities that he deserves at Southampton.

Under Roy Hodgson, the Eagles will not be very creative and therefore need a striker who can take the one chance that falls his way. Austin is a master finisher and should be top of their striking shortlist in the New Year.

Islami Slimani

While Austin is a different type of striker to Christian Benteke, the injured target man who would usually lead the Palace line when fit, Leicester City’s Islam Slimani is more of a like-for-like alternative to the Belgian.

Benteke is liable to long spells out of form or in the treatment room, and Slimani, whose strengths are also his powerful hold-up play and aerial prowess, would be able to slot in seamlessly as Hodgson’s lone forward.

The Algerian has four goals in as many starts for Leicester this season, but is way down their pecking order and would surely love the chance to play more regularly and prove a point to those at the King Power Stadium.

Michel Vorm

Palace’s other chief concern is in the opposite box, where 38-year-old Julian Speroni has been keeping goal. The Argentine has been a wonderful servant to the Eagles, but has not played regularly since 2015.

That Wayne Hennessey has not been able to oust Speroni from the team since returning from a short-term injury suggests that the Welshman, who is prone to an error every few games, does not have Hodgson’s trust.

Vorm has been an honourable deputy to Hugo Lloris at Tottenham Hotspur for four seasons now but is too good to sit on the bench for the rest of his career. The performance of Paulo Gazzaniga in Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Palace prior to the international break may open the door for Vorm to leave, and Palace should be at the front of the queue.