West Ham will be looking for their first win in nearly two months when they travel to Selhurst Park this weekend to take on Crystal Palace. Under-fire Hammers boss Slaven Bilic will be hoping that the two week international break brings around a change in his team’s fortunes and the club lift themselves out of the drop zone after what, very frankly speaking, has been a dreadful start to the season
After getting the better of Bournemouth in Round 2, the Hammers lost four in a row and were dumped out of the Europa League before arresting their losing streak with a 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough a fortnight ago. More importantly, the game saw Dimitri Payet break his goal scoring drought with an absolute peach that saw him hoodwink several Boro defenders en route to a superb individual goal.
Payet also netted for France in their international fixture against Bulgaria and Bilic will be hoping that his talisman, so influential in the Hammers’ great run last season, will help them turn a corner this weekend against Palace.
Bilic will definitely be without the services of Sam Byram and Gokhan Tore for this clash. Young Byram had to be stretchered off following a hamstring injury against Boro and will be out for a significant period after undergoing an operation. Tore has joined Andre Ayew, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll on the sidelines after tearing his quadricep.
The Turkish international has been a disappointment since his £2.5m loan move from Besiktas and so has Simone Zaza, with rumours even linking the latter with a switch to Valencia.
On the plus side for Bilic, team doctor Stijn Vandenbroucke has officially announced that the trio of Cresswell, Nordtveit and Calleri have returned to full training- some good news for a side beset with injuries.
There have even been some early calls for Bilic’s head, with former Hammers star Trevor Sinclair saying the blame for their poor form had to be laid on the Croat’s shoulders. Sinclair even quoted a running km stat- the Hammers were fifth in distance covered at this stage last season, but are 13th this year- indicating that fitness levels may be a concern at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
West Ham’s opponents, Crystal Palace, are sitting pretty in 8th in the league table and have lost just once in their last seven games in all competitions.
Eagles star Christian Benteke even scored the fastest goal in a competitive international during the international break (for Belgium v Gibraltar) and will be keen to continue his good run.
A look at William Hill’s complete coverage of the weekend’s football games reveals that Palace are favourites to take this clash at 23/20, with the Hammers being quoted at 12/5.
How have Crystal Palace fared in their last five games?
Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace
Southampton 2-0 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 4-1 Stoke City
Middlesbrough 1-2 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 1-1 Bournemouth
What happened at Selhurst Park in the 2015/16 season?
In the corresponding fixture last season, the Hammers won 3-1 with Jenkinson, Lanzini and Payet scoring. Palace had Dwight Gayle sent off just before the interval.
Crystal Palace v West Ham United
Venue: Selhurst Park
Date and time: 17 October, 2016 (Saturday) 17.30 KO
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