Premier League: Can Potter Work his Magic against the Eagles?

West Ham United vs Crystal Palace

East London will be bouncing on Saturday for a right old London knees up when Premier League: West Ham United vs Crystal Palace is the box office draw in the East End.

There will be plenty of smiles at the London Stadium, certainly at 3pm as two teams arrive with a midweek win under their belts. New manager Graham Potter won his first match in charge of West Ham in a five goal thriller against Fulham on Tuesday and then Oliver Glasner’s Palace won away to Leicester City on Wednesday night.  

The West Ham United vs Crystal Palace betting odds say Potter’s boys can make it two wins in two, but the Eagles are a totally different prospect from the struggling team of a couple of months ago. It’s 12^th versus 14^th and, with two points separating the teams, a victory for the Eagles would mean they can leap-frog their hosts… so we can look forward to a fascinating clash.   

Talking Points

New manager gets Hammers on the press  

Potter’s 3-2 win over Fulham ended a run of three consecutive defeats for the Hammers and with skipper Jarrod Bowen, out with a foot injury, it was a particularly impressive result against a dangerous attacking side. The new boss explained, after the game, that he had told his players to press higher up the pitch, to put the Cottagers’ defence under pressure and also to nullify its attacking threat. Edson Alvarez was the first to reap the benefit when his press forced the Brighton defence into an error and Carlos Soler pounced to give the Hammers a lead on the half hour. Two minutes later stand-in captain Tomas Soucek made it 2-0 when Aaron Wan Bissaka, playing higher up, pulled the ball back for the Czech star to finish.

Fulham pulled one back through Alex Iwobi but then it was substitute Danny Ings who made the press, to close down Fulham keeper Bernd Leno, and when the ball ran loose to Lucas Paqueta he fired it home for 3-1. Iwobi scored his second, with 78 minutes on the clock, to send some jitters around the London Stadium, but the Hammers held out for a much needed win. 

Mateta shows lethal intent

Glasner’s Palace have been in fine form for a good few weeks now and, while the 2-0 victory over the Foxes consigned Ruud Van Nisterooy’s side to a sixth consecutive Premier League loss it made it three wins in four, in all competitions, for the Eagles. The match stats were very much in the hosts’ favour with the majority of possession and 21 shots to nine but, with four shots on target each, Palace were far more clinical than their hosts. In fact, the match was well into the second half before the Eagles registered a shot on target, but it was a huge moment in the game as Ismaila Sarr fed Jean-Philippe Mateta and he rounded the Leicester keeper before rolling the ball home.

That goal took the wind from the Foxes’ sales and, when centre back Marc Guehi doubled the lead on 78 minutes, the points were safe. Guehi has been the subject of transfer speculation with Chelsea known to be long term admirers of the England man, but Glasner is hopeful he’ll still be a Palace player in February.            

The win over Leicester continued the good run of form and the Eagles recent match with Chelsea was another positive performance, as Mateta was the man on target again to earn a point after Cole Palmer had given the Blues an early lead.   

History

The head to head West Ham United vs Crystal Palace results have been shared equally at 12 wins each over the past 30 years, and the Hammers evened it up at the beginning of the campaign with a 2-0 victory at Selhurst Park with goals from Soucek and Bowen. 

With three wins, two draws and one defeat the Eagles are slightly stronger than West Ham who have won two, drawn one and lost three of their last six; and Palace have been quite strong on the road, with two wins, four draws and three defeats away from home.    

Betting Tip

Potter’s Hammers are at SBOTOP odds of 2.42 to win this London derby, while the Eagles are priced at 2.49 with the draw at 3.16; so this really is as tight a game as you could imagine.   

A 1-1 Sraw at odds of 5.99 is the most likely outcome and I have the feeling neither head coach would be too disappointed with that. 

 

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