Two teams seeking to bounce back from defeats on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season meet at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon as Crystal Palace play host to West Ham United.
The Eagles secured a thrilling 5-2 victory in their last home meeting with the Hammers just four months ago towards the end of last season.
Match preview
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After going through pre-season without losing any of their five friendly fixtures over the summer, Crystal Palace kick-started the 2024-25 campaign with a 2-1 defeat away against Brentford in the Premier League last weekend.
The Eagles were made to rue a refereeing howler from Sam Barrott, who admitted after the match that he made a mistake by blowing his whistle too early to disallow a superb first-half free kick from Eberechi Eze, shortly before Bryan Mbuemo went up the other end to open the scoring for Brentford.
Palace restored parity in fortunate circumstances as Ethan Pinnock inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net just before the hour mark, but Brentford secured all three points thanks to a 76th-minute winner from Yoane Wissa.
Oliver Glasner believes that the referee's error in disallowing Eze's goal would have been inconsequential had his Eagles outfit made the most of their first-half dominance, and the Austrian felt that his side's lack of rhythm and creativity in transition was a major factor for their lack of success in the final third.
Palace will welcome Saturday's return to Selhurst Park, where they won their final four home matches of last season by an aggregate score of 16-2 and have also won their last two home meetings with West Ham United, including the aforementioned seven-goal triumph in April.
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Julen Lopetegui's tenure as West Ham head coach began with a 2-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa last weekend, with one of the Hammers' reported summer transfer targets netting the match-winner for the visitors.
Indeed, after Lucas Paqueta's 37th-minute penalty had cancelled out a fourth-minute opener from Villa debutant Amadou Onana, Jhon Duran came off the substitutes' bench to score the decisive goal 11 minutes from time and hand Unai Emery's side all three points.
Lopetegui was left "unhappy and sad" after his Hammers side started the match "in the worst way", but the Spaniard has taken some positives from his team's performance and is now focused on the "big challenge" that his players have against Crystal Palace.
One of Lopetegui's main tasks this week has been to integrate eight new signings into his first-team squad; only two (Max Kilman and Guido Rodriguez) were handed starts against Villa, while three of the four than began on the bench (Niclas Fullkrug, Crysencio Summerville and Jean-Clair Todibo) were brought on as substitutes.
West Ham head into Saturday's contest having lost each of their last three Premier League games against fellow London teams, with their last two seeing them lose 5-2 at Palace and 5-0 against Chelsea; no team in English football history has ever conceded five or more goals in three successive London derbies.
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Team News
![Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen (5) smiles while holding the Stateside Cup trophy following the Stateside Cup match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace FC on Saturday, August 3, 2024 [on August 9, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/32/joachim-andersen.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen (5) smiles while holding the Stateside Cup trophy following the Stateside Cup match between West Ham United and Crystal Palace FC on Saturday, August 3, 2024 [on August 9, 2024]")
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Crystal Palace will be without defender Joachim Andersen as he has completed a £30m transfer to Fulham, while Jordan Ayew has allegedly agreed to join Leicester City and is also set to miss out.
The Eagles' only injury concern is with Matheus Franca, who is making progress in his recovery from a fracture rib, but will not be involved on Saturday.
Andersen's exit could therefore see either Nathaniel Clyne or Jefferson Lerma handed a start in a three-man backline next to Chris Richards and captain Marc Guehi, who has also been linked with an departure amid reported interest from Newcastle United.
Cheick Doucoure will be pushing to start in midfield ahead of either Will Hughes or Adam Wharton, while summer signing Ismaila Sarr may begin as a substitute once again if Glasner decides to stick with Eze, Daichi Kamada and Jean-Philippe Mateta in attack.
As for West Ham, Edson Alvarez is "progressing well" after sustaining a hamstring problem while competing for Mexico at the Copa America earlier this summer, and the midfielder will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka watched on as an unused substitute last weekend, but he could make his full debut at right-back at the expense of Vladimir Coufal, while Todibo could partner fellow new signing Kilman at centre-back, which would see Konstantinos Mavropanos make way.
Fullkrug will be looking to replace Michail Antonio up front, while Summerville will likely begin on the bench once again should Lopetegui stick with captain Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus on the flanks.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Richards, Lerma, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Doucoure, Mitchell; Kamada, Eze; Mateta
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson; Rodriguez, Soucek; Bowen, Paqueta, Kudus; Fullkrug
We say: Crystal Palace 2-2 West Ham United
Goals are to be expected in Saturday's intriguing fixture; both teams have scored in each of the last 14 meetings between Crystal Palace and West Ham, while the last four encounters at Selhurst Park have produced 24 goals (13 for Palace and 11 for West Ham).
The Eagles have prevailed in their last two home matches with the Hammers, but we expect a response from Lopetegui's men and they may do enough to claim at least a share of the spoils from an entertaining contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
