Crystal Palace meet West Ham in a feisty Boxing Day derby in the Capital at Selhurst Park as both teams look to mount a top ten challenge.
Palace could temporarily go ninth with a win as long as other results swing their way, whilst West Ham could climb to 13th with a win and results elsewhere going in their favour.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesPalace have no fresh injury concerns as four defenders remain ruled out for the remainder of the festive fortnight.
Gary Cahill and Joel Ward are sidelined with knee injuries alongside Scott Dan (calf) and Jeffrey Schlupp (hip), whilst Andros Townsend (groin) is the only non defensive absentee.
West Ham could have Felipe Anderson available after the midfielder missed their last outing away at Southampton through illness.
Lukasz Fabianski (hip), David Martin (muscle) and Manuel Lanzini (shoulder) are doubts but will handed late fitness tests.
Jack Wilshire (groin) and Winston Reid (fitness) aren’t expected to be available for the foreseeable future.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace have won just one of their last five league meetings with West Ham (W1, D3, L1).
- Both teams have scored in each of their last five meetings.
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last five trips to Selhurst Park (W3, D2).
- Palace’s Vicente Guaita has made a joint league-high number of punches alongside Norwich’s Tim Krul, with 13 punches apiece.
- Mark Noble is the only West Ham player to have scored a penalty this season.
Prediction
This should be a great clash because this fixture has thrown up plenty of goals in recent seasons, and it is also the only local Boxing Day derby in the Capital which will surely add extra buzz.
Palace however do have a defensive injury crisis which didn’t seem to affect them much at Newcastle on Saturday, so I can see them going for a counter-attack approach here in order to minimise the attacking that they need to do.
West Ham however have had a good week and a half off and could have several players back from injury, which will only boost their morale and I am therefore going for a late Hammers’ win.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 West Ham
Result: Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham