West Ham Utd 1-2 Crystal Palace (05/10/19)

[-DL-]

Saturday, 5th October, London Stadium. KO:1730, live on the telly.

Was happy with a point last time out at Bournemouth, but against this mob, I hope we proper stuff 'em. And I think we will.

Up The Irons!

[SullySpecial]

5-0. Haller scores all five.

[Puff Daddy]

Would love to see us give someone a proper dicking, no matter who it is, but would take 1-0 if I'm honest and it most probably will be closer to 1-0 than 5-0

[Aceface]

We seem to have the wood over them in recent years. Their defence is working well at the moment though, and we'll have less protection at the back with Roberto likely to play, so can see a bit of levelling up.

[Georgee Paris]

Zaha is back on form as well. Think this could be a high scoring 5-3 or 3-4 type

[The Old Man of Storr]

Last 4 games Crystal Palace have Won 2 , Drawn 1 , Lost 1 while we have Won 2 , Drawn 2 .

West Ham haven't lost since the opening day of the season but there's only a point between us with West Ham lying in 3rd and Crystal Palace in 9th though positions may change this afternoon .

Despite there only being a point between the two teams I fully expect West Ham to win by two clear goals -


West Ham 3 Crystal Palace 1

[hammerman11]

This will be a tough game with Zaha and townsend looking to exploit lack of pace with cresswell if he plays which he should after his last two performances.

fabianski will no doubt be missing which is a real blow as he saves us every game. as a result palace will score but hopefully we have enough to score a few more.
we do need to give haller some chances. his general play is good but we hardly create anything for him. needs a goal or two. I reckon he will deliver in this one.

Roberto
fredericks diop ogbonna cresswell
noble rice lanzini
yarmolenko haller anderson

subs martin masuaka balbuena snodgrass fornals holland ajeti

would give wilshere the match off as looked well off the pace. holland can take his place

3-1 hammers haller x 2 anderson

[TommyHammer]

Palace have started quite well but (bar the Man Utd game) they've only really beaten mediocre sides at home such as Norwich and Villa. They've lost the Sheff Utd and took a pasting off Tottenham away. If we turn up we should have too much for them.

[aaronhammer]

I’d be targeting a home win but Palace shouldn’t be disrespected. Since the turn of the year they have the 4th best record in the league:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier ... on_id/2019

Fabianski will be a big miss (unless he makes a shock return). Lanzini/Fornals will give Pellegrini a decision to make but otherwise the team should pick itself.
Roberto, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Noble, Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Anderson, Haller
Subs: Martin, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Snodgrass, Wilshere, Fornals, Ajeti
Reserve: Masuaku, Sanchez
Injured: Fabianski, Reid, Antonio

[Puff Daddy]

No matter what team we put out, home or away, I always expect us to beat Crystal Palace and that's because we normally do and I don't see this one very any different. Does Tomkins still play for them ?

[bubbles1966]

Palace 's opponents have had a player sent off in three of their seven games. All red cards at Palace.

[hammerman11]

hopefully make it 4 next week !

[hammer1975]

Hope Haller doesn’t have any ill effects of the kicking he got yesterday. Clear agenda from bournemouth imo.

I’d put Lanzini back in for this. All need to get behind Roberto obv.

Got a feeling we’ll draw after going behind.

[stu1]

If we win this our season is shaping up nicely. We’ve got 5 winnable games coming up followed by a run of 6 difficult games (Southampton away being the exception).

I’d hope we can stay in the top 4-6 until at least that run of 6 difficult games, then we’ll go in to them full of confidence.

If we then come out the other side of those games in the top 6 (which will be very difficult) then we are
In business.

[Samba]

I expect us to win this game & will be more than a little dischuffed, if we don't.
Having said that, Zaha's always bloody dangerous, Kouyate's bound to play a blinder & no doubt, we'll give Benteke chances, if he plays.

[Samba]

Does Tomkins still play for them ?

Yes Puff, still there & he'll also play a blinder, if he plays..

[funky chicken]

One obvious change barring a miracle will be Roberto in for Fabianski.

The question we need to ask ourselves for this game is do we stick with Fornals? Or do we recall Lanzini?

Fornals hasn't settled in yet. But is slowly improving and may get better if we keep him in the side and allow him to grow game by game. Whereas Lanzini who is hopefully now 100% fit again has been playing well this season, linking up well with Anderson and Haller. Plus has a pretty good goalscoring record too against Palace. Hasn't he scored 3-4 times against them?

Really tough decision for Pellers to make. But I'd imagine he'll stick with Fornals. Especially as we are unbeaten. And he doesn't judge me as the sort of manager to change the team unless he has no choice, e.g. Injuries, or suspensions.

But so Lanzini has a better chance of returning more fitter you could bring him off the bench like we did against Bournemouth if we are God forbid chasing the game.

Palace have a very physical midfield with big lumps such as Milivojevic, Kouyate and McArthur. So I am not sure Fornals will be able to handle that.

And we absolutely must have pace at both fullback positions with Zaha playing for them. So if there's one player I'll be praying doesn't get injured before and during the game it's Fredericks. As if God forbid Zabaleta has to play and mark Zaha I think I am going to hide behind my seat!

It won't happen but one change I would 100% make is Masuaku for Cresswell.

Cresswell isn't quick enough or even physical enough to match Palace's style of play. Masuaku is. And I didn't think Cresswell actually played particularly well against Bournemouth. I think his goal actually covered how shaky his overall game was. And arguably played a big part for one of Bournemouth's goals.

This would be how I'd line us up:

-----------------------------Roberto---------------------------

-Fredericks----------Diop--------Ogbonna----------Masuaku-

-------------------------------Rice---------------------------------

-------------------Fornals----------Noble-----------------------

Yarmolenko---------------Haller-------------------Anderson-


Subs: Martin, Cresswell, Balbuena, Snodgrass, Wilshere, Lanzini, Ajeti.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

strange - Masuaku starts all the games, gets a red, Cresswell plays well, Masuaku plays mid week and not even in yesterdays squad.

[carnage]

I think Pellegrini is or more was completely undecided about the left back position. Thankfully he seems to have made his mind up.

[aaronhammer]

strange - Masuaku starts all the games, gets a red, Cresswell plays well, Masuaku plays mid week and not even in yesterdays squad.

Same reason Cresswell wasn’t on the bench when Masuaku was in the team, Zabaleta can fill in at left back if needed despite being a right back. Masuaku/Cresswell can’t really fit in at right back.