England Premier League
Wednesday 16th December 2020
Kick off at 8pm GMT
Venue: London Stadium
Match Preview:
West Ham won their 4th game from their last five last weekend as they beat Leeds United away from home 2-1 at a ground where they usually struggle. The Hammers will come into this match with a lot of confidence and are in sixth place and a win would take them past Chelsea.
It’s been a positive start for West Ham and many had them down as possibly struggling this season, but they won’t get involved in the relegation fight given that with 20 points already they will feel they are half way home from being safe.
At home West Ham have won 50% of their games, which is decent but they would like to be pushing for more. Their last home game ended in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United although for a long period they were in that game and leading 1-0. Take out the United match though and West Ham have been solid at home in recent weeks earning 10 points from their last 15.
Crystal Palace have had an impressive start like West Ham and come into this match on 17 points and three behind their hosts. Last weekend Palace came back to surprise Tottenham and draw 1-1 with them. The previous week they scored 5 goals in beating West Bromwich Albion and the club should come into this match feeling very confident.
Palace don’t do draws away from home and have won 3 and lost 3 so far. Their last away game ended in the 5-1 win over West Brom and before that they lost 1-0 at Burnley. The Eagles are quite unpredictable in that sense but will be no easy pushovers.
Team News:
West Ham: Michail Antonio looks sure to miss this game but could be back at the weekend after suffering a hamstring injury. Arthur Masaku has a small chance to take part in this match after his knee operation but is likely to miss out.
Crystal Palace: Martin Kelly is out with his calf injury. Tyrick Mitchell could be back after illness but this hasn’t been confirmed. Wayne Hennessey and Nathan Ferguson remain long term injuries.
West Ham vs Crystal Palace Head to Head:
Last season Crystal Palace won this fixture 2-1.
West Ham have not beaten Crystal Palace in the league for 4 games and this goes back to 2018.
The last six league meetings have all seen both teams to score.
West Ham vs Crystal Palace Prediction:
There are a lot of potentially looking close games in midweek and this is a result of clubs meeting who have no consistency. West Ham have shown a lot of character in the last few weeks, because even though they have rode their luck they have kept getting results to stay in the top six.
Crystal Palace are dangerous and have recently recorded very good results against the Hammers. The problem for West Ham is how do they keep Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha quiet with the former having such a strong and consistent season.
But of course West Ham have dangerous players too, Thomas Soucek has been in good form and Sebastian Haller is due a goal, we expect to see goals in this game and it could be very entertaining.
West Ham vs Crystal Palace Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (+0.5 Crystal Palace) at 1.83
Over 2.5 goals at 1.91
Anytime goalscorer: Wilfried Zaha at 3.00
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