A London derby. Not one of the most prolific in English football but a derby nonetheless.
Palace take on West Ham United at Selhurst Park in the late kick off this weekend. It is the South of the city vs the East of the city, the Eagles versus the Hammers, the Del Boy’s versus the Cockney’s.
In terms of simularities, West Ham are one the main rivals in the Premier League for Palace so there is plenty at stake in South London on Saturday evening in front of the live television cameras. Recent form favours the home side, something that puts fans on edge as Palace often do better as the underdogs. It has been too long since our last home game, watching Palace on the road is just never the same and I for one cannot wait to be back at one of oldest remaining grounds in English football.
TEAM NEWS
CRYSTAL PALACE – Pape Souare (leg), Loic Remy (thigh) and Jonathan Benteke (knee) are all unavailable for selection ahead of the visit of West Ham this weekend with Scott Dann (hamstring) in with a chance of returning.
WEST HAM UNITED – The Hammers have had an unlucky run with injuries so far this season and have nine potential first team players out of action. Diafra Sakho (back), Andre Ayew (thigh), Andy Carroll (knee), Gökhan Töre (thigh), Arthur Masuaku (knee), Jonathan Calleri (knock) and Sam Byram (hamstring) will miss the trip to Selhurst Park this Saturday. Aaron Cresswell (knee) and Håvard Nordtveit (knock) are doubtful.
ACTION REPLAY
Last time out, the two sides shared the points in a 2-2 draw in what was one of the last ever games as Upton Park. Damien Delaney put Palace ahead early on after a mistake from West Ham keeper, Adrian. The lead was shortlived as the home side equalised shortly after through Manuel Lanzini. Just before half time, the much talked about Dimitri Payet scored a stunning free kick to put the hosts 2-1 up. The second half was a fairly scrappy affair in which Cheikhou Kouyate faced an early bath after a late challenge on Dwight Gayle who dusted himself down to score the equaliser with around a quarter of an hour left to play.
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 02/04/2016: (PL) – West Ham United 2-2 Palace
- 17/10/2015: (PL) – Palace 1-3 West Ham United
- 28/02/2015: (PL) – West Ham United 1-3 Palace
- 23/08/2014: (PL) – Palace 1-3 West Ham United
- 19/04/2014: (PL) – West Ham United 0-1 Palace
The last five results between the sides are fairly simular with a 3-1 score-line appearing three times out of the five. I would expect this to be the case at the weekend too as Palace are coming into the match on an unbeaten run of five games while the Hammers have picked up only one point from their last five Premier League matches. There has been a sending off in three of the last five meeting as well meaning a player seeing red this weekend would be of no suprise in the London derby.
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 30/09/2016: (PL) – Everton 1-1 Palace
- 24/09/2016: (PL) – Sunderland 2-3 Palace
- 21/09/2016: (EFL) – Southampton 2-0 Palace
- 18/09/2016: (PL) – Palace 4-1 Stoke City
- 10/09/2016: (PL) – Middlesbrough 1-2 Palace
Last FIVE results for West Ham United;
- 01/10/2016: (PL) – West Ham 1-1 Middlesbrough
- 25/09/2016: (PL) – West Ham 0-3 Southampton
- 21/09/2016: (EFL) – West Ham 1-0 Accrington
- 17/09/2016: (PL) – West Bromwich Albion 4-2 West Ham
- 10/09/2016: (PL) – West Ham 2-4 Watford
FORM PLAYERS (courtesy of Who Scored)
Top rated players from each team so far this season;
- Dimitri Payet (7.86),
- Christian Benteke (7.63)
- Jason Puncheon (7.61)
- Scott Dann (7.53)
- Arthur Masuaku (7.34)
- Michail Antonio (7.32)
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
“It is part of the managerial role we have that everything is centred on the results. Sometimes all the stuff that goes on around them makes it difficult to get those results. But [Slaven] is an experienced manager, an experienced international manager, and he will know how to deal with it. Better than I will. I have no doubt he will get it right sooner rather than later.” – ALAN PARDEW courtesy of BBC Sport
“Palace did not start well but the last four games they have got ten points and they probably did not want the break. We played really well there last year and won so hopefully we can do the same on Saturday.” – SLAVEN BILIC courtesy of BBC Sport
ONE TO WATCH
PEDRO OBIANG
Obiang arrived at West Ham in June 2015 after being a first team regular at Sampadoria, making 132 appearences and scoring four goals for the Italian side. Pedro started his professional career at Atletico Madrid as a youngster but failed to cement himself in the first team and soon found his way out to Italy. The twenty-four year old has also been capped at youth international level, making a handful of appearences for Spain at U17, U19 and U21 levels.
Obiang has featured in twenty-five of West Ham’s games during his stint in the Premier League but has yet to found the net. The Spanish midfielder has played just ninety-one minutes for the Hammers so far this season with a 76% pass success rate. With the current injuries facing Slaven Bilic, Obiang could well feature against Palace and could prove instrumental if he wants to seal a place in the starting eleven every week.
PREDICTION
Final league position – 11th
With a poor start to the season and many injuries hanging over them, West Ham could find it hard to hit a good run of form. As many know, results here and there in the Premier League are not good enough especially when you start relying on other teams to slip up. This may be the case this season for the Hammers and will ultimatley hinder their finishing position. The move from Upton Park to the London Stadium at the start of the new season has also been a contributing factor as moving home can be fairly uprooting for the entire club, including players and fans. This is fairly similar to when Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates, form dipped and success dried up. The move was not completely to blame but it certainly played a part.
- TEB prediction – home win
- West ham Central prediction (see link below) – draw
- Who Scored prediction – home win
BETTING ODDS (courtesy of Paddy Power)
- Home 21/20
- Draw 12/5
- Away 11/4
- Both teams to score 8/13
Find out what West Ham Central told TEB this week in The West Ham View.
