Crystal Palace face West Ham on the weekend in the Premier League and here is the predicted starting lineup that we believe should play in the crucial match.
Both sides need points from this London derby.
So, what’s the latest team news and which Crystal Palace players do we predict to start? Let’s take a look…
Crystal Palace team news v West Ham
Sadly for Crystal Palace, there are some big injuries to deal with. We all thought the injury crisis was somewhat over ahead of facing Luton.
During that frustrating defeat, the Eagles also saw Cheick Doucoure suffer a possible season-ending injury.
Eberechi Eze is also unavailable after picking up a small injury in the same match. He will be out for a few weeks.
They are two huge players to be missing for a very tough match away from home. Hopefully the Eagles can still work well without them.
Crystal Palace predicted lineup vs West Ham
There is a couple of ways Roy Hodgson can go about this match. He may use Jeffrey Schlupp in midfield alongside Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma. In all honesty this looks very likely.
The manager could also look to change things up with recent results not going to plan. With this in mind, we believe he should go back to his tried and tested 4-4-2 that he used in his first tenure at the club.
- Manager: Roy Hodgson
- Formation: 4-4-2
- GK: Sam Johnstone
- DEFENCE: Joel Ward, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell
- MIDFIELD: Will Hughes, Jefferson Lerma
- ATTACK: Michael Olise, Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Jordan Ayew
It would be good to see Edouard have more options around him as he has felt isolated a lot this season. He has five goals and with more support he could no doubt get more.
Hughes is not as good as Doucoure but he can put in a top shift, especially defensively. Him and Lerma could make a very good pairing, with Olise and Ayew tracking back when needed.
Mateta is yet to score in the Premier League this season, and there is an argument to say he is worth keeping on the bench; however, with the Eagles scoring only 13 goals this season we need to try something different.
The £9m signing can help the Eagles be a bit more direct and it may be easier for us to keep hold of the ball with two forwards up top. We saw him and Edouard link up well against Wolves earlier this season. It is a huge chance for Mateta to impress with Eze injured if he starts.
