West Ham v Crystal Palace: free football tip, team news and match preview

Football tips, best bets and predictions for West Ham v Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 5.30pm Saturday

Best bet

West Ham
1pt 21-20 Betfair

Team news

West Ham
Keeper Lukasz Fabianski joins Winston Reid and Michail Antonio on the sidelines. Jack Wilshere (ankle) is a doubt.

Crystal Palace
Luka Milivojevic is suspended. Mamadou Sakho is unlikely to figure.

Match preview

There may be a few stylistic differences between London rivals West Ham and Crystal Palace but there’s also plenty which connects them this season.

Both clubs have picked up three wins from their opening seven games, both have beaten Manchester United, both have suffered a stand-alone drubbing at the hands of a top-four side.

And both clubs have also suffered the indignity of a League Cup defeat at the hands of lower-league rivals.

Given they are just a point apart in the Premier League and in pretty good form there will be plenty of punters expecting something close to unfold at the London Stadium. And four of the last eight showdowns between West Ham and Palace have indeed ended in draws.

The other four, however, have yielded Hammers wins and they look the bet on this occasion.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side are progressing nicely, certainly as an attacking force.

Sebastien Haller looks a high-quality number nine, Andriy Yarmolenko, finally free of injury, has rediscovered his form, Felipe Anderson is also flying and playmaker Manuel Lanzini is fully fit to challenge Pablo Fornals for a starting berth.

Yarmolenko was a joy at Bournemouth last weekend when he grabbed his third goal of the season.

Hammered 5-0 by Manchester City on the opening weekend of term, Pellegrini’s men are unbeaten since then and have suffered just two home defeats since Christmas.

Pellegrini is an avowed attack-minded coach although he has also the players to defend and they enjoyed clean sheets against Norwich, Aston Villa and Manchester United before finally shipping a couple in the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

The match at Dean Court was a proper ding-dong affair between two sides who love to attack. Against Palace it will be an entirely different affair.

Roy Hodgson’s men are hugely disciplined on their travels and aware of their strengths on their counter. Over the last ten months that has earned them Premier League road wins at Manchester City, Wolves, Leicester, Arsenal and Manchester United.

The United triumph was at the end of August, although their two other away games this season ended in defeats - 1-0 at Sheffield United and 4-0 at Tottenham where they were poor.

There were also periods during last Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Norwich when they were under the cosh trying to repel a side who love to attack.

Against the Hammers they are without their key defensive protector, leader and penalty king, Luke Milivojevic, while heading in the other direction there’s still a sense that Wilfried Zaha, while a class act anywhere on the pitch, is operating on the wrong flank.

It might not have many goals this game – nine of their combined 14 league matches have produced two goals or fewer.