Crystal Palace Vs. West Ham - e-West Ham Match Preview

Article by Brandon Freeman

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F.A Premier League- Selhurst Park, Saturday 23rd August 2014, K.O 15.00

Current Form

West Ham head into Saturday’s game with Crystal Palace following a fiery local derby with Tottenham in which both teams ended the match with 10 men, following the dismissal of both James Collins and Kyle Naughton respectively. There was late drama in the match as Tottenham debutant Eric Dier scored a late goal to give Tottenham all three points, however West Ham did have many chances to take the lead in the match, none more so than Mark Noble’s penalty miss which was his first miss since the 2008/09 season which came against Chelsea. Crystal Palace also head into the weekend’s game following defeat to London rivals Arsenal in Keith Millen’s first game as caretaker manager. Palace did take the lead through debutant Brede Hangeland who scored his first Premier League goal in three seasons. Arsenal however fought back to win the game, equalising through Laurent Koscielny and clinching a late winner through Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey.

Previous meetings

Crystal Palace won both meetings between the teams last season, starting with a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park in December as Tony Pulis earned his first win as Palace manager. West Ham had early control of the game with Senegal midfielder Mohammed Diame heading over early on but it was Crystal Palace who took the lead just before half- time through former hammers lonee Marouane Chamakh. Crystal Palace also took all three points in the reverse fixture at Upton Park, once again winning 1-0 through a second-half penalty from Mile Jedinak to match their record of five successive top-flight wins set in the 1992-93 season. Despite the aforementioned defeats, West Ham do have a good head to head record against Crystal Palace, winning 11, drawing 10 and losing just 5 of the previous league meetings.

Team news

Sam Allardyce heads into this weekend’s game facing a possible defensive crisis with defender James Collins set to miss the game after being sent off in last weeks defeat to Tottenham. James Tomkins and Joey O’Brien will face late fitness tests, meanwhile on-loan Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson is also struggling for fitness following a hamstring injury suffered during West Ham’s pre-season tournament in Germany. Winger Matt Jarvis could return to first-team action following a thigh injury but both Ravel Morrison and Andy Carroll will play no part in the match. Sam Allardyce does remain hopeful though that both Enner Valencia, who was a late substitute against Tottenham, and new signing Diafra Sakho, will be fit for the game. Crystal Palace meanwhile have been given an injury boost in the build-up to Saturdays game with defender Scott Dann facing a late fitness test whilst Adrian Mariappa, Jonny Williams and Jerome Thomas all look set to return to the squad.

e-West Ham prediction

Big Sam will be desperate for West Ham to get a win here and ease any early pressure on him whilst Palace caretaker boss Keith Millen will want to build off last weekend’s resilient performance against Arsenal and win in their first home game of the season. With that in mind I think the game is likely to be a cagey affair but am hopeful that West Ham can capitalise on the uncertainty currently surrounding Crystal Palace and grab a win!

Crystal Palace 1-2 West Ham

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