West Ham United vs Crystal Palace
Date: 08/12/2018
K/O: 15.00
Venue: London Stadium
Referee: Anthony Taylor
West Ham will be hoping to continue their recent good form when they welcome Crystal Palace to the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers are coming off back-to-back wins against Newcastle and Cardiff City; the first time the East London side have achieved this since January 2017. Manager Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping to make it three wins in a row to continue West Ham’s good form, considering against Crystal Palace, they are unbeaten in their last six games. If the Hammers do get the win, it could see them rise into the top ten for the first time this season.
Crystal Palace, however, will be hoping to move on from their midweek game. The Eagles were humiliated by rivals Brighton 3-1 despite having a man advantage. Roy Hodgson will also be chasing a win as he has only ever won one London derby in his last sixteen attempts.
Team News
Manuel Pellegrini will be without star man Marko Arnautovic until the new year after the Austrian suffered a hamstring injury against Cardiff City. Arnautovic joins the ever-growing injury list at West Ham, which includes Manuel Lanzini, Winston Reid, Andriy Yarmolenko, Carlos Sanchez, Aaron Creswell, Jack Wilshere and Ryan Fredericks who will all miss this weekend’s match.
Pellegrini will be able to choose from two inform strikers, Javier Hernandez and Lucas Perez, who have both scored two goals in the last week. The Chilean manager will also look to recall Pablo Zabaleta to the right back spot, covered by Michail Antonio, as he was rested against Cardiff City. Fabian Balbuena is also looking for a start as he has recovered from a knock, so he will look to replace Angelo Ogbonna in the starting line-up. Obgonna, however, has shown inconsistency throughout this season.
Roy Hodgson will be without Belgium striker Christian Benteke, who is still sidelined with a knee injury. Hodgson could also be without Conor Wickham and Scott Dann. They are both recovering from knocks which could force them to miss the game this weekend.
The Englishman will be hoping Wilfried Zaha can re-establish his scoring form, as he has not scored in the Premier League since September. Crystal Palace are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league, with only Huddersfield Town placing lower. The Eagles, however, have been unlucky this season and have hit the woodwork eight times – the joint fourth highest in the league.
Predicted Starting XIs
West Ham (4-3-3): Fabiański, Masuaku, Balbuena, Diop, Zabaleta, Rice, Noble, Snodgrass, Antonio, Anderson, Perez
Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Hennessey, Van Aanholt, Sakho, Tomkins, Wan-Bissaka, Meyer, Milivojevic, Kouyate, McArthur, Zaha, Townsend.
Prediction: West Ham 2 Crystal Palace 1
West Ham are on the better run of form compared to Palace having showed that they can remain dangerous, even without Marko Arnautovic. If players like Perez, Hernandez and Antonio can keep their rediscovered form up, then they will be very dangerous for the Palace defence.
Pellegrini’s side also have the added threat of Andy Carroll, who is finally back playing after his cameo against Cardiff. Many Hammers fans will remember Carroll’s last game against Crystal Palace at the London Stadium when he scored a memorable overhead kick.
Crystal Palace do have some dangermen of their own. Andros Townsend scored a fantastic goal against Burnley and is always capable of something special. Ivorian Wilfried Zaha will also need to rediscover his efficiency in front of goal if the Eagles are to make sure of the points against West Ham. For their desired result though, West Ham should still have enough in their locker to make it three wins from three. This is especially true considering their home advantage.
