West Ham head to Selhurst Park on Saturday 24th August for a 3pm kick-off looking for their first points of the season. Crystal Palace are 11/10 for a home win, with West Ham at 11/5 and a draw 12/5.
Under Oliver Glasner the Eagles finished last season well, registering 19 points from their last seven to finish in the top half of the table.
However, they similarly lost their opening game of the new season, losing 2-1 in another London derby versus Brentford.
Palace have won three of the last four meetings against West Ham. The Hammers have conceded nine goals on their last two visits to Selhurst Park combined, the most recent being in April last season which ended 5-2 in favour of the Eagles.
Under a new manager, and with eight new signings to choose from, Hammers fans will be hoping that Lopetegui will make some further changes to the team that started the season. It is likely that Todibo will partner Kilman in central defence, and barring a late fitness test, Wan-Bissaka may well line up against his old club, replacing Coufal.
There are mixed reports that Alvarez is available for selection, yet I would be surprised to see him start, having picked up his injury in June whilst on international duty. He is more likely to be on the bench. There have been reported inquiries for the player, yet West Ham have made it clear that they will only listen to exceptional offers for the midfielder.
Niclas Fullkrug voiced his displeasure at not starting in the last game, and will be pushing to begin ahead of Antonio. He contested an average of 7.3 aerial duels per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga last season — the 13th-most of any player in the division.
Upon joining West Ham the German international stated, “I have a very good feeling — I’m strong, fit and in shape — and I just want to get out there and start playing.”
Another difficult game for the Hammers, and they will need to keep Jean-Phillipe Mata quiet, who is 5/1 favourite to be the first goal scorer.
Hopefully, the team can move on from last weeks result, defy the odds, and register an away win.
Fullkrug, Todibo and AWB in please, and time for Summerville if the rumours about an injury in training allow it. Probably too early for Alvarez but some minutes to get him underway.
The backdrop to this is that we should be able to field a stronger eleven than against Villa while Palace will have a weaker team than against Brentford. On that basis I’m optimistic.
Good copy and paste John!
The articles I was responding to both concerned the palace game so I just copied what I’d said in the first article – Well spotted you’re right.
A 3-1win to the Hammers. COYI !
Be nice if we can avoid conceding 5 against them this time around.
Hopefully German Ings can open his account today.