Crystal Palace vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance24,351.
Crystal Palace are set to have Joachim Andersen fit; West Ham can welcome back Declan Rice from suspension; watch Crystal Palace vs West Ham live on Saturday Night Football on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm; kick-off 5.30pm
Saturday 1 January 2022 16:34, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Crystal Palace vs West Ham in the Premier League on January 1; kick-off 5.30pm.
Crystal Palace are waiting on the results of routine PCR tests but are set to have Joachim Andersen fit for the visit of West Ham on New Year's Day.
The Danish defender was withdrawn late on during Tuesday's win over Norwich but assistant Osian Roberts revealed the centre-back was fine having only recently returned from a hamstring injury.
Wilfried Zaha is also expected to play after suspension but James McArthur (hamstring) is still sidelined while uncertainty remains over Nathaniel Clyne, Conor Gallagher, Michael Olise and Ebere Eze, who all missed the last match amid talk of unnamed members in the squad contracting Covid-19.
West Ham can welcome back Declan Rice from suspension.
Pablo Fornals also missed the 4-1 win at Watford through Covid, but boss David Moyes has reported no new cases.
Defenders Aaron Cresswell, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna are still out injured.
Crystal Palace vs West Ham is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm; kick-off 5.30pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
Selhurst Park is one ground that absolutely can make a huge difference for a home team. Palace have lost just one of their 10 home matches this season, however, that record is perhaps a little skewed as they have yet to face any of the current top six in south London.
West Ham are the first of that sextet to visit and are slight favourites for the away win at 6/5 with Sky Bet which does look a little short to me. Then again, the 23/10 on a Palace win doesn't interest me either as the Hammers are very strong against lower-ranked opposition and will be a massive threat from set-pieces.
I'm expecting a game full of incident, so both teams to score, something that has occurred in all nine of their last fixtures between these two, is an obvious runner at 8/13 with Sky Bet. I'd go a little further than that and combine my fancy for a draw with both teams to score at 100/30 with Sky Bet.
It's most certainly remains a wise tactic to keep on nobbling at Declan Rice's odds to score from outside the box. He's fired six shots on target in his last 10 fixtures and should be on free-kick duties while Aaron Cresswell remains out. Remember, there was a goal from outside the box from Rice in the win at Aston Villa and he went close with an off-target attempt in the draw with Burnley. Quotes of 20/1 are worth playing for him to score from range as is the 9/2 for him to have a shot on target from outside the box.
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-2
BETTING ANGLE: Declan Rice to score from outside the box (20/1 with Sky Bet)
● Crystal Palace have won just two of their last 13 Premier League games against West Ham (D6 L5), with these victories both coming in the 2019-20 campaign.
● West Ham have won four of their last seven away Premier League games against Crystal Palace (D2 L1). The Hammers have scored in all seven of these visits, but have also conceded at least once in six of them.
● Both teams have scored in each of the last nine Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and West Ham; only three fixtures have ever seen longer such runs in the competition - Fulham v Man City (15), Newcastle v Wolves (13) and Arsenal v Chelsea (11). The team scoring first has won none of these nine meetings between the Eagles and the Hammers (D5 L4).
● West Ham have won just one of their last nine away London derbies in the Premier League (D2 L6), though that victory did come at Crystal Palace last season (3-2).
● Crystal Palace have won just one of their 10 top-flight matches played on New Year's Day (D5 L4), beating Notts County back in 1992.
