Crystal Palace host West Ham in a mid-table clash

Crystal Palace welcome the Hammers to Selhurst Park with the teams seperated by four points in the league.

The Eagles currently sit in 14th on 23 points, but lost their last outings against Newcastle 1-0 after a late 83rd minute Miguel Almiron goal secured all three points for Newcastle.

The Hammers sit in 17th on 19 points and did not play last weekend as their game against Liverpool was postponed due to the newly crowned World Champions playing their Club World Cup game against Flamengo which they won 1-0.

Team news

Crystal Palace are boosted by Mamadou Sakho’s return from suspension.

However, the Eagles remain without Scott Dann, Gary Cahill, Joel Ward, Jairo Riedewald, Jeffrey Schlup and Andros Towsened.

West Ham are assessing David Martin and Lukasz Fabianski, and if neither is fit Roberto may be recalled in goal.

Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson are under consideration following injuries but Jack Wilshere is a doubt and Ryan Fredericks is suspended.

Roy Hodgson has provided an update on the injury status of his sidelined players, revealing that Victor Camarasa was unwell last Saturday before the Newcastle United match and discussing in general terms the lengths of time members of his squad are unavailable for.

“Our squad’s small. The injuries we picked up – there were seven going into the weekend. Victor Camarasa had fallen sick but he’s now recovered. The other six included Mamadou Sakho.

“The strange thing is they’re all in the same position – Mama couldn’t play, Scott Dann, Gary Cahill, Joel Ward and all these players are in the same position. It’s the same with Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp – two players who can cover the same position.

“The players have covered exceptionally well. Cheikhou Kouyate at centre-back had another excellent game where of course he can play. James McCarthy and Max Meyer we can bring into the team in midfield. In actual fact we covered it very well. The fear is if we pick up more injuries, how are we going to get through three games in four days? I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Manuel Pellegrini says the challenge facing his West Ham United side over Christmas is to turn the recent victories over Southampton and Chelsea into a consistent run of form.

“It’s important to try to win two games in a row,” he said. “Maybe in the last four games we won two important games away, and we lost the game at home.

“First we will try to have a second win against Crystal Palace, and after that try to improve our home performances because we have just one point from the last 15 at home.

“Now we can be more optimistic because we have won two of the last four games. I hope that in the next four games, we can continue to have good results in a row.”

Head-to-head

Crystal Palace won October’s reverse fixture 2-1, having previously recorded only one victory in 10 Premier League games against West Ham (D4, L5).