Palace return to Amazon Prime duty as they make the short midweek trek across London to take on West Ham in an effort to extend the current unbeaten run of games.
DATE
16th December 2020
KICK OFF
8pm
VENUE
The London Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2ST,
LAST TIME
It does not seem as long ago as it was but Palace last made the trip to the London Stadium back in October 2019. Sebastien Haller gave the hosts the lead early in the second half but Patrick van Aanholt levelled things up from the spot shortly afterwards. The hero of the day was Jordan Ayew who fired home the winner. Even though celebrations were paused for a lengthy VAR check, it was Palace that took all three points.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Ryan Fredericks (7.7)
OFFICIALS
REFEREE: David Coote.
ASSISTANTS: Lee Betts, Nick Hopton, Graham Scott (fourth official)
VAR: Peter Bankes, Stephen Child (assistant)
INJURY CONCERNS
PALACE – Tyrick Mitchell, Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly, Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Ferguson
WEST HAM – Michail Antonio, Arthur Masuaku
SUSPENSIONS
None
DISCIPLINARY
RED CARDS – Luka Milivojevic (1)
YELLOW CARDS (2+) – James McArthur (3), Luka Milivojevic (2), Wilfried Zaha (2), Ryan Fredericks (2), Jeffrey Schlupp (2), Vladimir Coufal (2), Angelo Ogbonna (2), Pablo Fornals (2), Vicente Guaita (2), Joel Ward (2)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 26/12/2019 Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham United
- 05/10/2019 West Ham United 1-2 Crystal Palace
- 09/02/2019 Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham United
- 08/12/2018 West Ham United 3-2 Crystal Palace
- 30/01/2018 West Ham United 1-1 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 13/12/2020 Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- 06/12/2020 West Bromwich Albion 1-5 Crystal Palace
- 27/11/2020 Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle United
- 23/11/2020 Burnley 1-0 Crystal Palace
- 07/11/2020 Crystal Palace 4-1 Leeds United
Last FIVE results for West Ham;
- 11/12/2020 Leeds United 1-2 West Ham United
- 05/12/2020 West Ham United 1-3 Manchester United
- 30/11/2020 West Ham United 2-1 Aston Villa
- 22/11/2020 Sheffield United 0-1 West Ham United
- 07/11/2020 West Ham United 1-0 Fulham
RECORD AGAINST WEST HAM
- Played 42
- Won 9
- Drawn 15
- Lost 18
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Tomas Soucek 7.21
- Wilfried Zaha 7.20
- Michail Antonio 7.12
- Andros Townsend 7.04
ONE TO WATCH
TOMAS SOUCEK
FORMER CLUBS – Slavia Prague, Viktoria Zizkov (loan), Slovan Liberec (loan)
The 25-year-old Czech international has been in fine form for the Hammers since joining the club in January from Slavia Prague. His initial loan deal was made permanent in the summer in a four year deal costing £19million. In August, he was awarded the Czech Golden Ball courtesy of a poll by Czech journalists.
KEY CLASH
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE v ANGELO OGBONNA
The Belgian striker has put in two very good performances since returning to the starting line up against the Baggies and his role will prove pivitol again against a well organised and tough West Ham back line. Italian international Ogbonna has been one of the reasons for the Hammers resurgence this season after a questionable start and will go toe-to-toe with Benteke.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Palace have lost once in the last 6 league meetings between the two sides
- Both sides have managed to score in each of the last 6 league meetings
- Palace are unbeaten in the last 2 league games
- West Ham have only lost 1 of their last 5 league games
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Wilfried Zaha (7 – 7th overall)
- ASSISTS – Andros Townsend, Wilfried Zaha, Eberechi Eze
- PASSES – Cheikhou Kouyate (468)
- TACKLES – James McArthur (31 – 10th overall)
- TOUCHES – Cheikhou Kouyate (618)
- SHOTS – Wilfried Zaha (28 – 14th overall)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (38 – 7th overall)
PREDICTION
The hosts have had longer to rest after their Friday night victory at Leeds than the Eagles who had to battle to come back against Spurs on Sunday. It is for this reason that it will be interesting to see if Roy Hodgson decides to make some changes for this midweek match up against the Hammers with fixtures coming thick and fast. Having said that we expect it to be a tightly fought game with the points ultimately shared between two sides in form.
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
BETTING ODDS
- Home – evens
- Draw – 23/10
- Away – 13/5
- Both teams to score – 3/4
RESOURCES
