West Ham vs Crystal Palace | Match Preview and Predicted XIs

West Ham will hope to make it back to back wins when they welcome city rivals to the London Stadium on Wednesday night.

After returning to winning ways against Leeds United, West Ham could propel themselves into the top four with a victory over Crystal Palace. David Moyes will be proud of his side’s start to the season which has gone against most people’s prediction for the Hammers.

Palace, on the other hand, will fancy their chances against West Ham after they did the double over the Hammers last season. The South London side picked-up an impressive 1-1 draw against Tottenham on the weekend as they continue their decent start to the season.

West Ham Team News

Moyes will likely stick with the same side that beat Leeds on Saturday night. Michail Antonio and Arthur Masuaku will still be absent for the Hammers as they continue to recover from injury. Antonio could return before the new year whereas Masuaku is likely to miss all of December after his recent surgery.

The positive news for Moyes is that he will have Andriy Yarmolenko available for selection after his COVID-19 positive test. The Ukrainian will give Moyes another option at striker should Sebastien Haller need replacing during the game.

Predicted Line-Ups

West Ham Formation | 4-4-1-1

L. Fabianski, A. Cresswell, A. Ogbonna, F. Balbuena, V. Coufal, P. Fornals, D. Rice (Captain), T. Soucek, J. Bowen, S. Benrahma & S. Haller.

Crystal Palace Formation | 4-4-2

V. Guaita, P. Van Aanholt, G. Cahill, C. Kouyate, N. Clyne, A. Townsend, L. Milivojević (Captain), J. Reidewald, J. Schlupp, C. Benteke & W. Zaha.

Match Prediction

It will be a tough game for the Hammers from the off against Crystal Palace, the pace the Eagles have will definitely cause issues for the defence. If players like Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell can step up against Wilfred Zaha and Andros Townsend, it could help nullify the Palace attack.

The other worry the Hammers defence will have is the creative powers of Eberechi Eze. The Englishman was a target of West Ham in the summer before he signed for Palace and has been great so far this season. Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice will have to keep an eye on the youngster before he hurts the Hammers.

Moyes’ side, however, have plenty of options going forward that are capable of hurting any side in the League. Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrhama have made the step up to the Premier League form the Championship seamlessly so far and could provide the killer blow against Palace.

Score Prediction

3-2 to West Ham. Benrahma to get his first goal and Bowen to grab himself a brace. Though Palace could definitely make it a thriller of a game.