Our live stream ahead of Tuesdays Premier League match, Crystal Palace v West Ham is now up, kicking off at 18.00 GMT
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
The Eagles have struggled for momentum pretty much all season long, though they have taken points off Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Arsenal over the past five weeks.
Last week’s heavy 4-0 reverse at the hands of Manchester City would have dented confidence, though, with Palace now marooned in mid-table, neither in relegation danger nor in serious European contention.
If they are to get their campaign back on track then goals are needed. Since beating West Brom 5-1 at the start of December, Palace have scored just five more goals in eight league games, failing to find the net four times in that run.
The good news for the Eagles is that they are unbeaten in their last four top-flight encounters with West Ham, winning two and drawing two, a run that includes a 1-1 draw when the sides faced off a little over a month ago.
The Hammers come into the game with full momentum having won with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup on Saturday – the first time they have scored three or more in a home tie in the competition in a decade.
A victory on Tuesday would make it the first time that the Scotsman has won four successive Premier League games since December 2013 when in charge of Manchester United. It is a feat West Ham last managed in December 2018.
Three league wins in a row for West Ham, most recently seeing off West Bromwich Albion 2-1, has them within two points of fourth-placed Liverpool and dreaming of a place in Europe.
With a home match against stuttering champions Liverpool to come next week, Moyes will be keen to get three more points on the board on Tuesday against cross-city rivals Palace.
LAST MEETING:
The two cubs last met a month ago at the London Stadium. Benetke’s opener was cancelled out as Sebastien Haller scores an outrageous bicycle kick to draw level and finish the game 1-1…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0cZTaA-woI
PRESS CONFERENCE:
ROY HODGSON
On getting an 8 day break…
“I think it’s probably been good for us to get everybody fit, if you like, or ready for the next game,”
“The next four games come very, very quickly. It’s been good to get some coaching sessions into everybody because now with these four games we’ll find ourselves in that cycle again of recovering from the last game and preparing for the next one.”
On Palace moving up the table…
“Any time is a good time to move away from the wrong end of the table and lift yourself up.
“But the games we have coming up in the next few weeks are against teams roughly in the same position as us, so you don’t want to be failing in those games during that period because you know afterwards there will be a run of games where it might be a lot harder to envisage picking up points.”
On West Ham and David Moyes…
“David [Moyes] has done a very good job there, they’ve found a way of playing that suits everyone in their team and they’re very, very dangerous. Their confidence is very high but unfortunately when you face good teams, their confidence is often high.
“David and I have been friends for a long time – I’ve always been a great admirer of his work. His teams are always well set up and he knows how to use the players at his club and find a system that uses those players and makes them difficult to beat.
“They do all aspects of the game well. They’re obviously an experienced, disciplined and very professional team. But they defend well and attack well and of course that’s the recipe for having a good team.
“They work very hard, are well organised, their back four and goalkeeper are all experienced. In midfield they have a very talented centre-midfielder defensively and another very talented centre-midfielder who can get through and score.
“Whoever plays them has to understand you’ll play a good team with good quality right the way through – they’ve got no weaknesses you can exploit.
“And they’re in form, which has boosted their confidence because they’ve had such a long spell now without losing important games. So they take to the field thinking: ‘When’s the next win coming up?’ We’ll have to take to the field to disabuse them of that thought.”
DAVID MOYES
On realistic ambitions…
“A win on Tuesday would take us fourth, but I think we’re a long way off a top-four finish at the moment.
“We’re a work-in-progress and the team are doing an excellent job. We want to be ambitious, but at West Ham we always get asked these questions after we win a few games.
“Overall, we’re a team that’s growing. This time last year, we were just outside the bottom three, trying to avoid relegation.
“I think it has come as a big step. It would be an incredible step if we went further than that – we’ll try to, I’m not saying we won’t or can’t – but the realistic answer to a top-four finish is it’s probably beyond our reach.”
On the Palace game…
“When you manage a club in London, you’re always going to get a lot of games which would be seen as derbies and rivalries.
“Going to Crystal Palace is obviously another close-encounter game for us. We’re up against Roy Hodgson, who has a been a brilliant manager wherever he’s been with great results, and his longevity is fantastic, so it’ll be a tough game for us – but we have to try and keep our own form up and concentrate on what we do.
“I always think that going to Crystal Palace is a tough game for anybody. They’re incredibly well organised by their manager.
“Going to Selhurst Park has always been difficult. We’ll try and go there with confidence. We played them quite recently.
“It’s a quick turnaround since our last game, but we’ll be back to play Palace in a hard away game. That’s the way we’ll look at it.”
On Benrahma…
“The biggest thing I’m working on with Saïd Benrahama is getting him used to the Premier League.
“I don’t think we need to work on any one specific thing. You always bring people in and people expect so much, so quickly.
“Quite often, with the boys I’ve brought in from the Championship, I’ve never started them quickly, I’ve always taken my time and tried to bring them on at the right speed.
“Everybody wants things done much, much quicker these days.
“I think Saïd’s doing well. He’s come on nicely. There are parts of his game I want him to improve on, but it’s a big jump up from the Championship to the Premier League and it doesn’t always happen overnight for everybody.”
On building winning streak…
“We hope we can continue that. We’re certainly not getting carried away with it or taking it for granted.
“We’re not going to come out at West Ham and promise something we can’t deliver. We’ve got ourselves in a really strong position where we can try and look upwards, and we are.
“We’re trying to be ambitious in our own way, but we’re also trying to be respectful of all the teams around us as well – there are some very good teams below us at this moment in time.
“I might tell the players [to aim high] behind closed doors, but I certainly wouldn’t come out and publicise it because that’s quite often when you’re going to get shot down.
“I’m trying to be ambitious and I want us to move forward, but I think you’d have to say we’ve done a lot of that already this year. We’ve made big strides forward already and, sometimes, then you’ll want even more.
“I want more, but I know that it can only be small steps. We’re in amongst some incredibly good sides and there are quite a lot of good sides below us as well. We’re going have to play really well to keep them away from us.”
FORM:
Crystal Palace Premier League form: LLDWDL
Crystal Palace form (all competitions): LDWLDL
West Ham United Premier League form: LDDWWW
West Ham United form (all competitions): DWWWWW
LINEUPS:
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Ward, Kouyate, Tomkins, Mitchell; Townsend, McArthur, Milivojevic, Eze; Zaha, Benteke
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals; Antonio
THATSAGOAL PREDICTION:
Crystal Palace vs West Ham
West Ham to Win – 27/20 with FanTeam
The Hammers have won five on the bounce in all comps and are flying high this season. Since September, they have lost just three league games, with those defeats coming at the hands of Liverpool, Manchester United, and Chelsea.
Crystal Palace have faired considerably worse of late with just a single win in their last eight league games. Michail Antonio is bang in form for the East Londoners and Roy Hodgson’s side will have a tough time dealing with him. An away win looks on the cards.
Time to take a look at our Crystal Palace vs West Ham live match stream as it happens…
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