Steven Gerrard's dreams are in the hands of his Liverpool teammates on Saturday evening as they visit Crystal Palace in the last 16 of the FA Cup.

The Reds skipper is expected to miss the trip to Selhurst Park after suffering a muscle strain in the 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.

A competition which he has already won twice during his 16-year Anfield career remains Gerrard's most realistic chance of a final trophy before his departure for Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the season.

Although the Merseysiders are still in the Europa League, there is a sense that an FA Cup triumph would be the ideal way for Gerrard to say his goodbyes - with this year's Wembley final landing on his 35th birthday.

The midfielder's injury was perhaps the only downside from Liverpool's morale-boosting midweek win over Spurs, which took them to within one point of their opponents and only three adrift of the top-four places.

The icing on the cake was that it was Mario Balotelli, heavily criticised for his minimal contribution since joining for £16m last summer, who scored the winner with his first Premier League goal for the club.

With Brendan Rodgers perhaps cautious over the fitness of Raheem Sterling and the recently-returned Daniel Sturridge, the Italian may be rewarded with a first start since November 8 as the leader of the line.

Dejan Lovren too should be brought back into the XI, with Emre Can moving into midfield, where the Reds are also without Lucas Leiva and the ineligible Jordon Ibe, to compensate for the absence of Gerrard.

Having knocked out Liverpool's Champions League rivals Southampton in round four, Palace will be hopeful of another scalp as they continue to ride the wave of momentum caused by Alan Pardew's appointment.

The Eagles boss avoided an embarrassing defeat to former club Newcastle United on Wednesday as his new club came from behind to secure a 1-1 draw, which leaves them five points clear of the relegation zone.

Fraizer Campbell bagged the equaliser to add to Pardew's selection dilemmas in attack, where Marouane Chamakh, Yaya Sanogo and Dwight Gayle have also been amongst the goals in recent matches.

Sanogo picked up a knock against the Magpies and so Campbell may be promoted from the bench along with Yannick Bolasie, who produced a lively cameo upon his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Captain Mile Jedinak is another who has recently come back from international duty, but an ankle injury keeps him sidelined and Scott Dann, Lee Chung-yong and Shola Ameobi are also unavailable.

Pardew must decide whether to stick with his policy of playing Wayne Hennessey in the cup or opt for first-choice keeper Julian Speroni, who starred as the Eagles beat Liverpool 3-1 at home in November.

Palace:

Form in FA Cup: DDWLWW
Form in all competitions: WWWLWD

Possible starting lineup: Hennessey; Ward, Hangeland, Delaney, Kelly; Puncheon, McArthur, Ledley; Bolasie; Chamakh, Campbell

Liverpool:

Form in FA Cup: WWLWDW
Form in all competitions: DDWWDW

Possible starting lineup: Mignolet; Lovren, Skrtel, Sakho; Markovic, Can, Henderson, Moreno; Coutinho, Lallana, Balotelli

Sports Mole says: 1-2