Crystal Palace vs West Ham Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 12, 2015 @ 07:49 am

Alan Pardew welcomes one of his former clubs to Palace as he looks to get the better of West Ham. He guided Palace to victory over the Hammers back in February when they stormed to a 3-0 lead before eventually winning 3-1 at Upton Park with a brace from Glen Murray. Pardew has done an excellent job at Palace and despite the Newcastle United fans desperately wanting him out of the club; they’ll probably be regretting their decision given their recent troubles and Palace’s resurgence under their new man. 

Slaven Bilic is another manager who has gone back to a club he was popular at as a player and he’s had a very inconsistent start to life as a manager in the English Premier League. Victories over Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City have made up 9 of their 14 points they’ve mustered up so far but they’ve also suffered home defeats to Leicester City and AFC Bournemouth. Consecutive draws against Norwich City and Sunderland has seen them keep amongst the clubs at the top end of the table.

The defensive performances of Palace have been particularly pleasing for the fans as they’ve been resolute and dogged when needed. Pardew has lost by 2 or more goals on just 2 occasions since taking over in January ’15 to West Brom and Hull City in back-to-back games in April ’15. Every other time they’ve been on the end of a defeat they’ve lost by just 1 goal which always gives them a fighting chance until the final whistle to snatch a result from the game. They’ve kept just 2 clean sheets in 10 games this season but have conceded 2 or more goals just once, against Arsenal.

Bilic made a shrewd signing in Dimitri Payet who went under the radar of a whole host of other Premier League clubs and looks a snip at £11.5million as he tops the goal scoring and assist charts for West Ham in the Premier League with 4 goals and 3 assists. West Ham are unbeaten away from home in the league with 3 wins and 1 draw.

Both sides have players missing in attack as the home side will be without Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh. West Ham will be without Enner Valencia who picked up a serious knee injury in August but has returned to training in recent weeks and won’t be far off making his return. Andy Carroll was left out of the 2-2 draw with Sunderland as he continues to build on his match fitness after a lengthy injury but he looks set to be amongst the squad after playing the full 90 minutes against Valencia in a behind closed doors friendly on Friday. Alex Song is one player who’ll definitely be missing after David Gold recently posted on social media that he’s targeting a return for the Chelsea game on 24 October.

Crystal Palace

Stats: W-5 L-3 D-0

Recent Form - LLWWW

West Ham United

Stats: W-4 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - WWLDD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1) – Hennessey, Kelly, Dann, Hangeland, Souare, Cabaye, McArthur, Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie, Gayle.

West Ham United (4-2-3-1) – Adrian, Jenkinson, Reid, Tomkins, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyate, Moses, Payet, Lanzini, Sakho.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Crystal Palace -Chamahk (inj), Wickham (inj), Ward (inj), Delaney (inj), Jedinak (inj).
West Ham - Valencia (inj), Song (inj), O’Brien (inj).

League Positions