West Ham vs Crystal Palace match build up

TEAM NEWS

Andy Carroll made his first appearance of the season as a substitute in that game, while Pablo Zabaleta and Fabian Balbuena are fit again.

West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic has been ruled out for a month with a thigh muscle injury sustained in the win over Cardiff on Wednesday.

Crystal Palace have no new injury problems, with boss Roy Hodgson able to select from a near full-strength squad. Christian Benteke, Connor Wickham and Scott Dann remain sidelined.

MOTD COMMENTATOR’S NOTES

@Mark_Scott_: It’s a startling statistic that West Ham’s win over Cardiff gave them back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time in almost two years. After a slow start to the season, Manuel Pellegrini’s side now look capable of delivering some long-awaited consistency.

While Marko Arnautovic’s injury is a blow, Pellegrini has the luxury of goals coming from a number of other sources – in contrast, finding the net is Palace’s major issue, with their failure to threaten 10-man Brighton the latest worrying display in attack.

While you can look at the vast number of chances they created against Burnley as a positive, their conversion rate both that afternoon and across the season as a whole must be a big concern for Roy Hodgson.

VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT

West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini: “I think we are improving as a team. We are doing things better. We cannot stop in this moment though. We started the season with no points in 12. We must continue to try and recover from that bad start.

“We are in the position in the table [13th] we deserve because of that start. If you start the season after those four games, we’d be in sixth, just a point behind Chelsea.”

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson: “I think we’ve been playing better than the table position suggests, but many teams would say that. A bit of luck and things might be different, but I don’t like to go too much down that route.

“West Ham bought a lot of players and the manager’s also fairly new, so it can take time to integrate everyone. Their recent results and performances are very good, we’ve got to be good to get something.”

LAWRO’S PREDICTION

Crystal Palace will have a point to prove after being beaten by Brighton last time out, but I am going for another hammers win here.

Prediction: 2-0

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• West Ham are unbeaten in their last six matches with Crystal Palace (W3, D3).
• The side scoring first in Premier League fixtures between West Ham and Crystal Palace have never lost.

West Ham United

• West Ham are aiming to win three consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since December 2016.
• The Hammers could equal the club Premier League record of scoring at least three goals in three consecutive matches, set from February to March 2011.
• Their last three home games in the league have produced 14 goals, with the Hammers scoring seven and conceding seven.
• Lukasz Fabianski has saved each of the last three penalties he has faced in the Premier League,

Crystal Palace

• Crystal Palace have won just one of their last nine Premier League games (D2, L6).
• Palace have picked up just one point from their last five away games, conceding 10 goals.
• Wilfried Zaha has failed to score in his last nine league appearances.
• Palace boss Roy Hodgson has managed just one win in 16 away London derbies in all competitions as a manager (D4, L11), although that win came on the opening day of this season at Fulham.

Source: BBC News