West Ham United vs Crystal Palace; Premier League
West Ham United vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance56,911.
West Ham United v Crystal Palace preview: Arthur Masuaku and Pedro Obiang absent
Tuesday 30 January 2018 19:28, UK
West Ham will be without at least 10 first-team players when they host Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Tuesday night.
Arthur Masuaku will miss the game after he was given a six-match ban for spitting during Saturday's FA Cup humiliation at Wigan, while Pedro Obiang suffered a knee injury during that game.
Diafra Sakho has completed his move to French club Rennes and manager David Moyes, who has brought in Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan, has admitted he wants more signings to strengthen his patched-up side.
The Hammers boss said: "Ultimately we are short of players right now so we could do with adding to it but I am not going to bring in anyone that won't help the team, it's a waste of money and time.
"We want to bring people in who can contribute between now and the end of the season, if not longer."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson is also looking to sign a goalkeeper and a forward before Wednesday's deadline, but has been boosted by the return of Mamadou Sakho from long-term injury.
Team news
Masuaku is suspended until March, while Obiang joins an injury list which also includes Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic, Andre Ayew, Cheikhou Kouyate, Jose Fonte, Winston Reid and Edimilson Fernandes.
But Michail Antonio (calf) and Mark Noble (foot) could return to the squad.
For Palace, Sakho, Yohan Cabaye (both muscle) and Joel Ward (groin) all return, while new recruits Erdal Rakip and Jaroslaw Jach are both available.
Scott Dann, Jason Puncheon, Jeffrey Schlupp, Connor Wickham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all long-term absentees.
Opta stats
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last five Premier League matches against Crystal Palace, winning three and drawing two.
- This will be West Ham's 200th Premier League London derby (P199 W62 D44 L93) - their 93 defeats is the most by a side in the competition.
- Crystal Palace have only won one of their last nine Premier League London derbies on the road (D2 L6), with that win coming at Chelsea in April 2017.
- David Moyes has won six of his last eight Premier League contests against Roy Hodgson (L2), although this is his first top-flight meeting with Hodgson since leaving Everton.
- Roy Hodgson is looking to beat West Ham in the Premier League with a fourth different team (also Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool) - he would become the third manager to achieve this in the competition alongside Graeme Souness and Steve Bruce.
Merson's prediction
It was a very poor result for West Ham at the weekend. I really don't get it when Premier League teams go out to lower league opposition in the cup. I know the Premier League sides make changes but it really shouldn't happen.
This is a big football match for both teams. I'm going to forget about Crystal Palace's performance at Arsenal. They started so poorly and were blown away in the first 20 minutes but I'm expecting a better showing from them here. I picked them for victory at the Emirates so I have to keep faith with them here.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2