West Ham United Vs Crystal Palace Prediction: The Hammers' Revenge Explore In London Derby

Lucas Paqueta will return to play false nine for West Ham United (photo: x @COYIronscom)

JAKARTA - West Ham United will host Crystal Palace at the London Stadium on Saturday 18 January in the Premier League continued matches. Both teams want to continue their positive trends by winning a straight win, and this meeting promises a fierce match between the two teams trying to strengthen their position in the middle board of the standings.

Crystal Palace carried a mission of revenge after losing 2-0 in the previous meeting at Selhurst Park in August 2024.

West Ham United started a new era under Graham Potter with an important 3-2 win over Fulham on Tuesday night. The win ended three unwinned matches in all competitions and lifted the Hammers to 13th place in the Premier League standings, 10 points adrift of the relegation zone.

Carlos Soler's goals, Tomas Soucek, and Lucas Paqueta confirmed three points despite Fulham's fierce resistance through Alex Iwobi's two goals. Potter praised his team's hard work even though he admitted the game was quite "tightening." With the absence of Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio, and Niclas Fullkrug, West Ham still managed to score three goals, an indication that they were able to perform effectively even without a number of core players.

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace came with a 2-0 win over Leicester City in the last game. Goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi made the Eagles record five games without defeat in all competitions. Under Oliver Glasner, Palace is now in 15th place with an eight-point lead over the relegation zone.

Even so, Palace set a bad record in the London derby. They have not won in 13 away derby matches since November 2022, but they have had an impressive record at the London Stadium, unbeaten in their last five visits against West Ham.

In this match West Ham had to play without a number of key players, including Antonio (leg injury), Bowen (leg injury), Fullkrug (hamstring), and Jean-Clair Todibo (undisclosed injury). In addition, Crysencio Summerville is doubtful to appear due to problems with the thigh.

Lucas Paqueta will most likely return to play false nine after performing well against Fulham. Meanwhile, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who appears solid at right-back, is predicted to continue filling the post with Max Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and Emerson Palmieri in the back.

Crystal Palace

Palace has several players who have doubts about appearing, including Jefferson Lerma who had to be pulled out due to pain against Leicester. Matheus Franca (mustache) and Adam Wharton (feet injury) are ruled out. However, players such as Mateta, Eberechi Eze, and Will Hughes are expected to still appear even though they had previously experienced health problems.

If Lerma is not fit enough, Cheick Doucoure or Daichi Kamada will fill his position in midfield. In addition, Glasner is likely to retain most of the line-up that beat Leicester.

West Ham United will take advantage of the advantage of playing at home to find their first straight win since early 2024. Despite having injury problems, Potter squad's confidence was high after a win against Fulham.

On the other hand, Crystal Palace brings positive momentum with an impressive away record. Glasner's pragmatic style of play is expected to dampen the host's aggressiveness.

This match is predicted to go tight, with both teams having a chance to score. However, West Ham's consistency in scoring goals at every meeting against Palace could be the difference in this match.

West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez, Rodriguez; Kudus, Soucek, Soler; Paqueta

Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Doucoure, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta

Final score prediction: West Ham United 2-1 Crystal Palace