Freedman: Eagles game a doubt

Published Jan. 17, 2013 1:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Dougie Freedman knows from experience that Bolton's game at Crystal Palace may fall foul of the cold snap.

Freedman became a cult hero at Selhurst Park across two playing spells with the Eagles and he managed them from January 2011 until Wanderers came calling in October last year.

The 38-year-old is due to meet Palace for the first time since his departure on Saturday but feels the npower Championship clash has a "50/50" chance of going ahead if the weather forecast proves accurate.

"I played there for a long time, I can tell you what happens to every blade of grass, what happens when the sun shines on certain bits of the pitch," he said.

"It is a pitch that doesn't take too well to the frost and I believe if the weather we're expecting comes it's going to be 50/50 whether it's on."

Palace remain firmly in the promotion shake-up following their sparkling start to the season under Freedman, who expects to face a familiar challenge.

"I don't think there's been many changes in terms of their players and I see they're still picking up results, so there's no changes from that point of view.

"Looking at the videos there's not a lot of tinkering with the team so I'm expecting exactly what I left behind - a very good, solid team that's hard to break down.

"We can look at that as an advantage but they may try and double bluff and do something different because they know I know certain aspects of their game and their strengths and their weaknesses.

"So I really can't answer that question, that's probably one for Ian Holloway, but we'll set up in a certain way that I think will give us the best chance of winning the game."