West Ham United return to Premier League action in the early kick-off this afternoon as they take the short trip across London to face Crystal Palace.
Following on from their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in midweek, David Moyes’ side currently occupy 15th spot in the table and are five points above the relegation zone, however three points against Palace would be welcomed.
The Hammers have a few knocks to deal with ahead of the tie yet Moyes may not have to tinker too much, having stated in his pre-match press conference: “In the main we are okay.
“Scamacca is the one player who is not available. People have picked up some knocks in midweek but hopefully, it will be a similar squad.”
The Scot will be hoping for a performance that saw them score four goals against Bournemouth last weekend and we at Football FanCast predict the West Ham starting XI that will take on Palace today.
What could the West Ham United starting XI look like?
4-3-3 – Lukasz Fabianski; Vladimir Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd, Emerson Palmieri; Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice, Lucas Paqueta; Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals
Fabianski will retain his spot between the posts for the trip to Selhurst Park and will be aiming to keep just his tenth league clean sheet of the campaign.
There will be one change to the back four from the game against Liverpool, with Emerson coming into replace Aaron Cresswell at left-back. Coufal will once again start on the right-hand side of the defence whereas Zouma and Aguerd will operate at the heart of the defence as the duo made eight clearances and eight interceptions between them against the Anfield side.
Paqueta, fresh from scoring his third goal in as many games will start again, and he is finally showing the form that convinced Moyes to splash out £51m on him last summer. Rice and Soucek will form the rest of the midfield trio and this could be key to victory especially as they appear to be clicking together quite well.
Bowen and Antonio will be tasked with causing the Palace defence plenty of problems while Fornals could come in and claim a starting berth. The £65k-per-week Spaniard scored a wonderful scorpion kick against the Cherries last weekend that was dubbed “unbelievable” by former Watford striker Troy Deeney, and he could find himself in a confident mood to add to his meagre goal tally this afternoon, having scored just five times all season.
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