West Ham United will be looking to continue their impressive start to the 2021-22 Premier League season when they welcome Crystal Palace to the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers are currently top of the table with six points from their first two matches, while Palace are down in 14th, having collected one point from their opening two fixtures of the campaign.
Match preview
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West Ham excelled in the Premier League last season, picking up 65 points from their 38 matches to finish sixth, which has seen them directly qualify for the group stages of the 2021-22 Europa League.
Many doubted whether the Hammers would be capable of launching another challenge for a European spot this term due to a quiet summer transfer window - at least until now - but David Moyes's side have been in excellent form in the early stages of the campaign.
The Hammers opened their season with a 4-2 win over Newcastle United on August 15 before recording a 4-1 victory over Leicester City on Monday night; Michail Antonio netted two late goals against the Foxes to become the club's all-time Premier League record goalscorer with 49.
Moyes's side will now take on Palace and Southampton either side of the international break before welcoming Manchester United to the London Stadium on September 19, while the London club have also been drawn against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team in the third round of the EFL Cup.
West Ham have only actually won one of their last five Premier League matches against Palace, while they have not overcome the Eagles on home soil since December 2018.
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Palace, meanwhile, opened their 2021-22 Premier League season with a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea on the opening weekend before playing out a goalless draw with Brentford at Selhurst Park last time out.
The Eagles were also in EFL Cup action on Tuesday, with a strong side suffering a 1-0 defeat to Watford, meaning that new head coach Patrick Vieira is still waiting for his first win as the club's head coach.
Palace will be wary of suffering another disappointing result on Saturday considering that their next two in the Premier League are against Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.
The Eagles have been present in the top flight of English football since 2013, but they have finished 14th in each of the last two seasons, and their home form last term was concerning, losing eight Premier League matches at Selhurst Park, although the return of supporters should help them.
Palace picked up a point in the corresponding match during the 2020-21 campaign, while they have only lost once away to West Ham in the Premier League since January 2017.
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Team News
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West Ham will again be without the services of Winston Reid and Arthur Masuaku, but the Hammers did not suffer any fresh problems in the win over Leicester on Monday night.
Having not been in EFL Cup action during the week, the players have had plenty of recovery time, and it would not be a surprise to see the same starting XI from Monday's fixture, with Said Benrahma, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen supporting lone forward Antonio.
Chelsea's Kurt Zouma continues to be strongly linked with a move to the London Stadium, but the centre-back is unlikely to start even if he does complete a switch to the club in time to be registered.
As for Palace, Michael Olise, Ebere Eze and Nathan Ferguson are still unavailable through injury, while Luka Milivojevic is likely to again be ruled out due to personal reasons.
Head coach Vieira will make changes from the side that started against Watford, with James McArthur, Christian Benteke, Tyrick Mitchell and Vicente Guaita among those expected to return.
The Eagles had a strong side on the field against Watford, though, and Wilfried Zaha, Conor Gallagher and Cheikhou Kouyate should again be in the starting XI this weekend.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Antonio
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Gallagher, Kouyate, McArthur; Zaha, Benteke, Ayew
We say: West Ham United 2-1 Crystal Palace
Palace's record recent against West Ham, as mentioned, is impressive, and we can see this being a tricky encounter for the Hammers. That said, Moyes's side have looked strong in the early stages of the campaign, and we are expecting the hosts to collect another three points to continue their fine start.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Ham United win with a probability of 49.83%. A draw had a probability of 26.4% and a win for Crystal Palace had a probability of 23.74%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Ham United win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.85%) and 2-1 (9.11%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.4%), while for a Crystal Palace win it was 0-1 (8.44%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.2% likelihood.
