West Ham travel to Selhurst Park for the first of three London derbies to be played in the final six games of the season.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side has enjoyed an uptick in form and results since the turn of the year, going from seven points adrift of safety in the bottom three to one point clear of 18th-placed Tottenham.
Victory on Monday night will put the Hammers four points ahead of their arch rivals and place even more intense pressure on them as the relegation battle heads towards a dramatic climax.
Following on from West Ham’s 4-0 thrashing of Wolves last time out, there doesn’t appear to be any fresh injury concerns, which will be a boost for Nuno and his squad, which is building a level of confidence and momentum which is so important at this stage of the season.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, are feeling the effects of their success in Europe last week, with a handful of players picking up knocks as they secured a place in the Conference League semi-finals.
Maxence Lacroix limped off in the Eagles’ win over Fiorentina but has reportedly been cleared to feature against West Ham, but the hosts will likely be without Adam Wharton, who was also forced off in that game.
That will provide West Ham with a bit of a boost, even if Lacroix is passed fit, but the main hopes of a boost hang in whether the Palace players have recovered well enough following their celebrations on Thursday night.
Oliver Glasner have his squad permission to go out and celebrate following their historic victory in Italy, and videos on social media showed them doing just that, sparking encouragement that they may not be fully focused for the visit of West Ham on Monday.
Palace are safe from the drop and have a huge chance of winning the Conference League, so it would be understandable if their exploits in the Premier League take a back seat between now and the end of the season and they look to secure silverware in Europe instead, with a place in next season’s Europa League the prize.
How will West Ham line-up v. Crystal Palace?
With that in mind, how will West Ham approach this one? Three points would be huge in the fight to stay in the top-flight and given Palace’s situation, it would make a lot of sense for Nuno’s side to get at their hosts from the off, playing on the front foot and looking to hurt them early.
That’s why it’s difficult to see anything other than an unchanged XI for West Ham, with Taty, Pablo, Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville spearheading the attack.
At the back, it’s expected that Kyle Walker-Peters will keep his place on the right of defence following solid performances against Leeds and Wolves in recent weeks.
The rest of the XI picks itself at the moment. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Axel Disasi have developed a fantastic partnership in defence, while Tomas Soucek remains the preferred partner to Mateus Fernandes in midfield.
So, here’s how we think West Ham will line-up against Crystal Palace…
