Crystal Palace and West Ham United resume rivalries for Saturday’s Premier League London derby at Selhurst Park, following their midweek setbacks.
On Tuesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated the Eagles 2-0, just 24 hours after Liverpool came from behind to beat David Moyes’ team 2-1 despite their 1-0 lead. Roy Hodgson raised several eyebrows by making multiple changes to his previously unbeaten Palace squad, but his tactics did not pay off at Molineux. An awful own goal by Joachim Andersen put Palace on the back foot within the first three minutes of the game.
Wolves keeper Jose Sa thwarted the visitors’ efforts to break down his defense, rendering their attempts futile. In the second-half injury time, Pedro Neto was harshly fouled by Sam Johnstone, the opposing keeper, who was subsequently punished. Ruben Neves seized the opportunity to put the outcome beyond question from 12 yards.
From creating chances for fun to going 0-0 in each of their last two games, Palace’s new manager bounce appears to be fading, but the 75-year-old’s mini boost has propelled the 12th-placed Eagles away from peril, sitting eight points clear of the bottom three with five games remaining.
The hosts will not be able to guarantee their top-flight position this weekend, but Hodgson is on the verge of accomplishing what he set out to achieve when he took over for the second time, and Palace have recently proven to be a difficult nut to crack at Selhurst Park.
Indeed, the Eagles have only lost one of their seven Premier League games at home – a 1-0 loss to Manchester City – but the other five have resulted in draws, with the outlier being their thrilling 2-1 triumph against Leicester City in Hodgson’s homecoming.
West Ham manager David Moyes experienced a range of emotions, from the highs of Lucas Paqueta’s stunner to the lows of being denied a last-gasp penalty, in a closely contested match against Liverpool. He didn’t hold back and expressed his feelings openly after his team’s defeat.
With 12 minutes gone, Paqueta scored a beautiful goal, but Cody Gakpo and Joel Matip flipped the tie on its head for Liverpool, who withstood an offside Jarrod Bowen goal and a late penalty appeal against Thiago Alcantara, whose hand obviously made touch with the ball as he slipped on the grass.
The officials deemed that the event did not require an on-field review. However, David Moyes shouted at Chris Kavanagh and accused the VAR room of showing disrespect. As a result, his team missed out on an opportunity to avoid the drop zone, and they have now slipped to 15th place after Bournemouth defeated Southampton on Thursday.
The Hammers’ five-game undefeated run in all contests came to an end on Wednesday evening, and a win on Saturday will be crucial before they face Manchester City, Manchester United, and Europa Conference League semi-finalists AZ Alkmaar in their first three May games.
West Ham extended their scoring streak against Liverpool to 11 games. In their last two top-flight away games, they secured victories with clean sheets against Fulham and Bournemouth. Meanwhile, Palace suffered back-to-back 3-2 defeats to West Ham at Selhurst Park in the last two seasons. However, the Eagles repaid the favour with a 2-1 victory at the London Stadium in November.
Team News- Crystal Palace
Palace defender Andersen can’t get Tuesday night out of his head fast enough, as the Dane was taken off at halftime due to pain, though Hodgson hasn’t ruled him out of playing in Saturday’s derby.
Wilfried Zaha (groyne) and Nathaniel Clyne (knee) were both ruled out of the trip to Molineux, but both should practise with the club ahead of Saturday and might compete for a spot in the squad. Nathan Ferguson, on the other hand, is a frequent absentee.
Hodgson made a total midfield rearrangement against Wolves, but Cheick Doucoure and Jeffrey Schlupp could both return to the engine room tonight, while Chris Richards made only his fourth Premier League start of the season while he was out and might now give way to Joel Ward.
Team News- West Ham United
For West Ham, Moyes should have only one absence in Gianluca Scamacca, who is recovering from knee surgery, but Moyes said a few weeks ago that he was not quite clear what the process entailed.
Despite emerging from the match against Liverpool without any injuries, Moyes’ team has less than 72 hours to recover for this midday kickoff. Consequently, the visiting manager will most likely consider bringing in some fresh legs at both ends of the pitch.
Thilo Kehrer and Emerson Palmieri might compete for defensive starts, while Danny Ings and Pablo Fornals can hope to replace Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma in the final third.
Predictions-
Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham United
Date- 29th April, 2023
Time- 11.30 am GMT
Venue- Selhurst Park
