Crystal Palace will be bidding to avoid equalling a top-flight record when they go up against Bournemouth on New Year's Eve.

The Eagles are currently enjoying another positive season under Patrick Vieira, collecting 19 points from their 15 matches in the top flight to sit in 11th spot.

With a game in hand on two of the teams above them, the London outfit can further strengthen their position in the standings should they take advantage of the extra match.

However, Palace are currently enduring one of their most disappointing spells of the campaign, which started with an EFL Cup exit to Newcastle United before the World Cup break.

Either side of that gap in action, Palace have also succumbed to Nottingham Forest and Fulham, matches which they would have expected to win given their opponents' status as newly-promoted clubs.

For the third match in succession, Palace face a team who were playing Championship football last season in the form of Bournemouth.

Should Vieira's side lose out at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, it would represent just the third time in top-flight history that a club had lost three games in a row when they have all been against teams who had been newly promoted.

Norwich City in 1992 and Sunderland in 2003 were the other two occasions when such a negative feat was registered.

Palace will be attempting to avoid that record on the back of failing to register a shot on target in each of their last two Premier League games.

Since match-by-match data started being recorded during 2003-04, no team has ever failed to test the goalkeeper in three fixtures in a row.

Palace have won just one of their seven away matches in the Premier League this season, beating West Ham United on November 6 courtesy of a last-gasp winner. body check tags ::