Crystal Palace Match Preview
Last season, Crystal Palace were the team that ended West Ham United’s 100% start. Fifteen months on and the Hammers will be looking to get their revenge when they welcome the Eagles to Stratford this afternoon.
The Irons have had a good record in London derbies this season and will want to go three unbeaten having drawn with Tottenham Hotspur and beaten newly-promoted Fulham here. However, they were unfortunate to have a late point taken away from them at Chelsea.
David Moyes’ men will be looking to carry on from where they left off after they took maximum points from six games in their UEFA Europa Conference League group stage campaign, following a 3-0 triumph against Romanian Liga I side FCSB just three days ago. They will also be keen to make amends for the loss away at Manchester United in their last top-flight outing.
With three games in the space of six days ahead of the Qatar World Cup, the home fans will be hoping to start with a positive result here.
Lucas Paquetá returned to training this week, following a shoulder injury sustained in the 1-1 draw at Southampton last month and Moyes hinted in his pre-match news conference on Friday that the Brazilian midfielder may be involved here.
Pablo Fornals will be desperate to retain his place after scoring a brace on Thursday night, while Moyes will hope to restore goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański to the starting line-up, after he had to be taken off during the half-time break at Old Trafford due to an ankle injury.
The match kicks off at 2pm and the referee is Paul Tierney.