West Ham vs Crystal Palace - Pre-match Analysis
A look ahead to the weeknd as Hodgson's Crystal Palace make the short trip to West London.
Palace are currently sat in 13th place, however are in a poor run of form after only winning 1 from their last 7 games. There are growing reports that Hodgson is concidered "too old" for Permeir legue football, which adds growing pressure to this fixture.
Palace have only concided 18 goals this season, which is impressively the same as Aston Villa. However what isn't the same is the number of goals scored as the South London side have only scored 13 goals in their 13 games.
Roy plays pragmatic football, as does Moyes. However West Ham have quality up the pitch from players such as Kudos and Bowen to transition fast and score. Palace however do not have such talent. At least not in quantity.
What to look out for:
Eze and Olise:
These two players have been the shigning light in Palace's attack. However, not getting the most out of them is perhapse Hodgsons biggest failure. Eze does not look like the player of last season and Olise has been out for 4 months with a hamstring injury. But now that Olise is back, and even scored in their game against Luton, his partnership with Eze may be rekindled.
Doucoure:
He knows how to shoot from distance, how to pass, break the lines, dribble, and defend. He can do it all. His stamina is impressive which partnered with a physical playstyle makes him a top class holding midfeilder. His impressive performances even gained him Crystal Palace's player of the season award.
Odsonne Édouard
The young English man has a big future ahead of him. During the research for this article i couldn't help thinking how much he would suit West Ham. He is a seriously impressive youngster. He is his sides top scorer this season with 6 goals, which is a goal every 0.42 games. Pace, power and prolific is how i would sum him up.
Predictions:
This game will be a difficult one for the Hammers. What i can predict is a slow game of football with both teams sitting back and struggling to create goals scoring opportunities. However i can see more chances falling to the Hammers, where i see the West London side provailing. I'm going with 1-0 West Ham, and maybe another soucek last minute winner. Come you Hammers!