Crystal Palace will lock horns with West Ham United this Saturday and the Eagles will look to capitalise on their win against Fulham last time out.
Roy Hodgson’s side were barely troubled in their 2-0 win against the cottagers and have now opened up a four-point lead over Cardiff City who are 18th in the Premier League table.
Only six points separate Palace and their upcoming opponents West Ham United in the league table after the Hammers picked up an impressive draw against Liverpool on Monday.
Palace don’t have a good record against West Ham, as they last beat the Hammers in February 2015, nearly four years ago.
Hodgson’s side have drawn four and lost three against West Ham since and will want to turn the tables at Selhurst Park come Saturday.
Crystal Palace Team News
Palace will have Wilfried Zaha back for the game against West Ham after the Ivorian international served his one-game suspension.
Cheikhou Kouyate missed the last game with an ankle injury and it remains to be seen if he’ll be fit for the game against West Ham and make the Crystal Palace lineup.
Predicted Crystal Palace Lineup
Defence
Hodgson seems to have found his best centre-half pairing in James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho and the duo are likely to start at the heart of the defence once again.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has had some season, and should keep his place on the right, while Patrick van Aanholt should feature as the left-back come Saturday.
Vicente Guaita is expected to start in goal.
Midfield
In Kouyate’s absence, it makes sense to go with a two-man pivot of Luka Milivojevic and James McArthur who did well from the defensive aspect and recycled possession well against Fulham.
Wilfried Zaha might return to the starting lineup in place of Jeffrey Schlupp who unfortunately misses out despite an impressive display against Fulham.
Andros Townsend should keep his place on the right. The two wingers like cutting in and the West Ham full-backs might have a hard time trying to contain them.
Attack
Christian Benteke started against Fulham, and we expect the Belgian to keep his place against West Ham.
Benteke’s compatriot Michy Batshuayi should complete the attack. Batshuayi has shown plenty of promise in his loan spell already and will hope to impress again come Saturday.
