Geographically, a short drive and the River Thames is all that separates the Eagles and the Hammers. Competitively, it’s even closer. West Ham sit only four points behind Crystal Palace with a game in hand as they travel to Selhurst Park; with Manuel Pellegrini’s men starting to pick up form as the home side have plummeted down the table.
Pellegrini and Roy Hodgson make up the two current oldest managers in England’s top flight – with a combined age of 138 – and with that, they bring a wealth of tactical experience, managerial adeptness and those hard-boiled sweets that they’ve probably had in their blazer pockets since the last millennium. It’s a veteran battle of wits on the touchline, but what battles are there to look out for on the pitch?
James Tomkins vs Sébastien Haller
A side-effect of Pellegrini’s age comes tactical stubbornness, although the Premier League winning Chilean seems to have finally had an epiphany regarding his French star acquisition. With the consistent Michail Antonio acting as the catalyst for Haller’s fine form, playing the Frenchman in a bowed 4-4-2 formation gives Haller the same kind of striking support as he had in his 15 goal, 9 assist season at Eintracht Frankfurt – with Antonio acting as West Ham’s fast-paced answer to Ante Rebić by acting in quick passing plays with his strike partner.
Opposing him, James Tomkins and Gary Cahill have been a stalwart defensive partnership this season but have started to slack considerably in the last few games as Palace have been failing to secure results. Tomkins, as the defender on the side of Haller, will have to watch out for the Frenchman offloading the ball to the agile Antonio and running behind in an attempt to break away from his marker. If gaps in the defence do arise, West Ham could slice through the Palace backline with ease.
James McArthur vs Felipe Anderson
James McArthur has been a sporadic creative spark in a dull Palace team over the past few games. The FA Cup-winning centre-mid sits just behind the attacking front line on the left side of a 4-3-3, despite being a natural defensive midfielder, and regularly plays inside passes to Zaha on the wing to attack down the flanks.
However, Felipe Anderson has been one of the Hammers’ most damaging attacking providers in recent fixtures before he was forced to miss the last game through illness; spurring games on with high-tempo passing and dribbling to carry the balls into particularly prolific positions. McArthur may have to prioritise his defensive duties and leave Palace on the back-foot offensively to nullify a fully healthy Anderson, or risk giving a frighteningly quick attacking force-free reign to play with Palace’s shaky defence.
Wilfred Zaha vs Pablo Zabaleta
Zabaleta is argued by many to be one of the best right-backs of the Premier League era, ever-present in a City that rose to the very top. However, we’re no longer in 2012 and the Argentinian is balder than ever.
Now in the twilight of his career, Zabaleta lacks the physical attributes needed to compete week in week out at Premier League level and is bound to struggle when filling in at right-back for the suspended Ryan Fredericks – especially when he is looking down the barrel on the right flank of the pitch at the nifty and punishing Wilfred Zaha.
The Ivorian’s immense pace and quick feet is likely to tear up Zabaleta’s once-glorified defensive capabilities and will certainly be Crystal Palace’s main attacking outlet down that left-flank – with West Ham’s 34-year-old full-back’s best option being to attempt to block Zaha’s runs and force him to pass more centrally; although that’s easier said than done.
