WHZ View: Three things to look out for as West Ham face Crystal Palace
West Ham play away in the Premier League for the first time since New Years Day as they travel to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
The Hammers are full of confidence at the minute and are looking to make it five wins out of five in all competitions for 2021.
Palace will be looking to pick up a win themselves as Roy Hodgson’s side have won once in their last five. They’ll be anxiously looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone if they don’t start picking up points.
With that in mind, West Ham Zone have listed three things to keep your eyes on in tonight’s encounter.
- Benrahma finally to score?
Said Benrahma has been an excellent acquisition for David Moyes’ side. The Algerian came off the bench to assist winners in back to back home wins to Fulham and Ason Villa in December.
Despite bagging 17 times in the Championship last season, he’s still yet to score his first goal for the club. He should, however, fancy his chances tonight in South London.
This season, Donny van de Beek, Ben Chilwell, Alexis Mac Allister, Takumi Minamino, Rayan Ait-Nouri and John Stones have all scored their first Premier League goals for their respective clubs against Palace.
2. High chance of goals
Form tends to go out the window in derbies. West Ham have kept clean sheets in five of their last six games and will no doubt be tough to break down.
When we face off with Palace there always tends to be goals. Both sides have scored in each of the last seven meetings. In that time, West Ham have won just once, a 3-2 victory at the London Stadium in December 2018.
David Moyes’ side have sharpened up at the back this season, but there’s one man who will be very keen to challenge that.
3. Zaha out for revenge
Wilfried Zaha endured a torrid evening when the two sides met in December. The Ivorian was kept very quiet for most of the match by Hammers right back Vladimir Coufal.
Zaha lost possession thirteen times [Wyscout] over the 90 minutes and completed just 33% of his attempted dribbles (4/12). He registered one shot which was off target, 0% of his crosses were completed and he won just 26% of his overall duels (10/38).
With eight goals and two assists, the winger has contributed to ten of Palace’s 22 league goals this season. He’ll be looking to add to that tally this evening, no doubt.
In other West Ham news, BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson gives his prediction for tonight’s clash.