Premier League 2022-23 preview No 7: Crystal Palace

Guardian writers’ predicted position 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position 12th

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker) 500-1

The end of this season will mark a decade since Palace were promoted via the playoffs under Ian Holloway in what has been the most sustained period of success in the club’s history. There is now genuine optimism that Patrick Vieira can take the perennial mid-table finishers into uncharted territory following a promising first campaign at the helm with an exciting young squad.

Remarkably, the Frenchman took only a few weeks to transform Palace from the dogged defensive side that hit opponents on the break under Roy Hodgson into a team that plays exciting, possession-based football and does not just rely on old talisman Wilfried Zaha. He and captain Joel Ward are the only remaining players from Holloway’s side that won promotion in 2013, with the 29-year-old Ivory Coast forward contributing his best-ever return of 14 goals in the Premier League last term.

Retaining Zaha’s services with less than 12 months of his contract now remaining will of course be a priority for Vieira and the chairman, Steve Parish, although there are other areas of concern such as filling the Conor Gallagher-shaped hole in midfield. The Chelsea loanee was the heartbeat of Palace’s team last season and while they have acted decisively to sign the Mali international Cheick Doucouré from Lens to play in the holding role, concerns over the fitness of 34-year-old James McArthur means more cover is needed.

As well as the burgeoning partnership between Marc Guéhi and Joachim Andersen, the arrival of USA defender Chris Phillips from Bayern Munich and