West Ham have the potential to push on from their pivotal win over Southampton. This momentum swing lies in their clash with Crystal Palace, but who will fill out the lineup?
The starting XI is going to be very telling for West Ham. Will Manuel Pellegrini stick to his dual striker system that was very effective against Southampton? If so there will be plenty of happy Hammers, but if either Michail Antonio or Sebastien Haller are not on the team sheet the reaction will be riotous.
It appears the Man-of-the-Match from the win over the Saints, Antonio, dodged a massive Christmas Day bullet, too. The energetic forward was involved in a car accident in his Lamborghini but seemingly avoided injury and arrest as it was, in fact, just an accident with no drink driving or foul play suggested. All reports suggest he is fine and will be in the team to player Crystal Palace.
Our Predicted Starting XI:
Fabianski
Zabaleta – Balbuena – Ogbonna – Cresswell
Anderson – Noble – Rice – Fornals
Haller – Antonio
Bench: Roberto, Diop, Masuaku, Lanzini, Snodgrass, Yarmolenko, Ajeti
Some notable changes are in this team and bench. Lukasz Fabianski returns in goal, and honestly, this pick is a pretty big gamble. The injury both he and David Martin have put Roberto back in contention to start this match, but after a full week of training, I think we see Fabianski first and Martin against Leicester City on the weekend. Roberto will fill the bench.
Also, Pablo Zabaleta replaces Ryan Fredericks who has been a fixture at right-back due to his yellow card accumulation suspension. This spells trouble as Wilfred Zaha has been operating off the Palace left-wing recently and will have the chance to turn him inside out at all.
Felipe Anderson also draws back in over Robert Snodgrass in this match, playing the right side of the pitch and abandoning his inverted wing position in an effort to get him to cross the ball more into the box. Pablo Fornals must keep his spot on the left-wing due to recent performances, as well.
It’s also time for Pellegrini to drop Carlos Sanchez from the bench and reintroduce Manuel Lanzini after he returned to training this week from his collar bone injury. If fit, Lanzini is a must in the first team, but he should be walked back into action following his injury.
Overall, this team is strong, balanced, attacking, and a bit nerve-racking when you break it down. The bench is also boosted heavily with Snodgrass acting as a central and wide midfield sub, and Lanzini factoring in as an attacking option as well. Should the team and bench look like this, the Hammers have a strong chance of taking all three points from Crystal Palace.