Crystal Palace vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,242.
Saturday 28 October 2017 14:14, UK
Crystal Palace are hopeful James McArthur will be available to face West Ham on Saturday.
The midfielder has been undergoing treatment all week in a bid to be fit to face the Hammers, who, like Palace, have struggled in the Premier League this season.
Palace have just one win from nine games while West Ham have only won twice.
The two sides are coming off contrasting results in the Carabao Cup in midweek, though, with Palace losing 4-1 to Championship side Bristol City and the Hammers coming from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 3-2 at Wembley.
"Wednesday night's game should set the standard for us, in terms of closing teams down, in terms of compactness, in terms of team play, in terms of sacrificing everything for the team," said West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, whose position has been under scrutiny this week.
"We will win some games and we will lose some games, but I am quite confident we are on a good way."
West Ham will have Andy Carroll available after he was banned for the defeat to Brighton last week, but Andre Ayew will be pushing to start after scoring twice against Tottenham.
Michail Antonio faces a late fitness test after missing the win at Wembley due to a bruised rib. Defender James Collins remains sidelined because of an ankle problem.
McArthur will face a late fitness test for Palace while Lee Chung-yong has been sent for a scan after receiving a nasty kick in the defeat at Bristol City on Tuesday, so remains doubtful. Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham are both out.
Crystal Palace have lost their last three home games against West Ham in league competition, their longest losing run versus the Hammers on home soil.
West Ham are unbeaten in the Premier League versus Crystal Palace under Slaven Bilic (W3 D1 L0).
Crystal Palace have lost 12 of their last 14 Premier League games to nil. Over 2017 as a whole, 17 of their 29 Premier League games have seen them lose without scoring.
Manuel Lanzini has scored in all four of his Premier League games against Crystal Palace (four goals). Lanzini has netted more Premier League goals vs the Eagles than any other West Ham player and nine of his 14 Premier League goals have come in London derby matches (64%).
Only Riyad Mahrez (50) has attempted more dribbles this season than Palace's Andros Townsend & West Ham's Michail Antonio (both 43). However, the Palace winger has beaten his opponent with 30 of these (70%) while Antonio has only been successful with 13 (30%).
West Ham will get a massive amount of belief from beating Tottenham and Crystal Palace, who lost a six-pointer to Newcastle, just got hammered 4-1 by Bristol City in the Carabao Cup.
I know they didn't put out a full team but you don't lose by that many to a Championship side. You need to start building your confidence.
Any fan wants to see desire, a bit of heart, and West Ham showed that in the second half at Wembley. Fair play to them, I can't imagine too many of the players wanted to come back onto the pitch 2-0 down at half-time but to rally and win the match is impressive.
Paul predicts: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 5/1)
Wilfried Zaha is 5/1 favourite to open the scoring, with the Hammers' Javier Hernandez 6/1. It's 9/1 for no goals in this one.
