Tuesday 3rd December
20:00
Selhurst Park
Crystal Palace vs West Ham United
Analysis
If there was ever an opportunity to get back to back victories in the Premier League, this was it.
Crystal Palace have been the worst team in the division so far. Tony Pulis may change that, but there has been little to date to suggest that Palace will manage anything other than relegation this season.
That said, they do have some good players. They have players that can hurt you, and this won't be an easy victory by any stretch of the imagination.
In their last home game, Palace managed to secure a goalless draw against in form Everton.
Everton had 15 attempts on goal, but a stubborn Palace defence, led by former Hammer Danny Gabbidon, restricted them to just 2 shots on target.
During that game Palace sat deep, soaking up everything Everton threw at them. They won 17 of 21 tackles, 15 of 28 headed duels, and made 34 clearances. Essentially, they won the battle. They only managed a 67% pass completion rate, but their performance wasn't really about that.
If you look at their team heat map below, you'll see that they rarely ventured out of their own half.
When they do make it out of their own territory, they do have a few players who can cause damange. Marouane Chamakh has been completely ineffective for a few seasons now, but he has the ability to occasionally trouble the goalscorers.
They also have a plethora of lower mid table wingers at the club, the likes of Jerome Thomas, Jason Puncheon and Jimmy Kebe all have decent records at this level.
But in the last couple of weeks, the stand out attacker has been former Stoke City striker Cameron Jerome. Against Hull City a couple of weeks ago, Jerome's mazy run led to Barry Bannan tapping home a late winner for the Eagles - and the big forward was at it again in Saturday's defeat to Norwich.
In their weekend loss, Jerome created a whopping five chances for his team mates - a joint league high with Chelsea midfielder Juan Mata. The image below shows the passes Jerome made to create goalscoring opportunities at the weekend.
The last player I want to focus on may be a little unexpected, but I've been very impressed by Joel Ward's performances this season.
While Palace have struggled this season, Ward has been constantly up and down the right wing. Defensively he has been solid, and he gets involved in the attack regularly too.
He's created 6 chances for teammates in his 11 appearances, and puts in an average of 2.5 crosses per game. Defensively, he's won 63% (30/48) of his headed duels, and an impressive 72% of his tackles (44/61).
In Palace's recent game against Hull City, Ward was a constant threat up and down the right flank. His heat map below shows how busy the defender was.
As I said in opening, this won't be an easy victory. But, let's be honest, this is an away game that we should be targeting for victory.
If we win, we could be as high as 11th place tonight. Wouldn't that be nice?
Head to Head
27% Head to Head Win % 42%
19 Won 30
22 Drawn 22
30 Lost 19
91 Goals Scored 129
129 Goals Conceded 91
Recent Form
L L L D W L Last 6 D W D L L W
2 Goals Scored 6
9 Goals Conceded 6
L W L L L D Home/Away Form D L W D W L
4 Goals Scored 6
10 Goals Conceded 4
Form Player (Last 6 League)
Danny Gabbidon - Stewart Downing
5 Appearances 6
450 Minutes Played 540
170 Sum Squawka Performance Score 190
34 Average Squawka Performance Rating 32
116 Passes Attempted 209
93 Completed 169
80% Success Rate 81%
1 Chances Created 14
0 Assists 1
0 Attempts on Goal 5
0 On Target 4
0 Goals 0
3 Take Ons Attempted 16
2 Successful Take Ons 8
67% Success Rate 50%
13 Tackles Made 2
8 Successful Tackles 1
62% Success Rate 50%
14 Interceptions 4
54 Clearances 5
1 Blocks 0
14 Defensive Actions Per Game 2
23 Aerial Duels 12
16 Won 4
70% Success Rate 33%
0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
Last Meeting
25 February 2012
4-4-2 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
Julian Speroni - Robert Green
Paul McShane - Joey O'Brien
Paddy McCarthy - Abdoulaye Faye
Anthony Gardner - Winston Reid
Jonathan Parr - George McCartney
Wilfried Zaha - James Tomkins
Mile Jedinak - Mark Noble
Kagisho Dikgacoi - (46') Julien Faubert
Darren Ambrose (63') - Jack Collison
Chris Martin (82') - (58') Ricardo Vâz Te
Jermaine Easter (74') - (73') Nicky Maynard
Subs
Lewis Price - Dan Potts
Owen Garvan (82') - Henri Lansbury
Stuart O'Keefe - (58') Gary O'Neill
Glenn Murray (74') - (73') Sam Baldock
Sean Scannell (63') - (46') Carlton Cole
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
Crystal Palace: Paddy McCarthy, Jack Hunt, Adlene Guedioura, Jerome Thomas, Glenn Murray
West Ham United: Winston Reid, Rǎzvan Raţ, Alou Diarra, Ricardo Vâz Te, Mladen Petrić, Andy Carroll
Suspensions
Crystal Palace: Yannick Bolasie
West Ham United: n/a
Opposition Last Time Out
vs Norwich City
Goals Scored: 0
Goals Conceded: 1
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1
Julian Speroni
Joel Ward Danny Gabbidon Damien Delaney Dean Moxey
Kagisho Dikgacoi Mile Jedinak
(76') Jason Puncheon (73') Barry Bannan Cameron Jerome
(80') Marouane Chamakh
subs:
Lewis Price
Adrian Mariappa
Stuart O'Keefe
(76') Jimmy Kebe
(73') Jonathan Williams
Kevin Phillips
(80') Dwight Gayle
Best Player: Cameron Jerome
Squawka Rating: 32
Worst Player: Jonathan Williams
Squawka Rating: -16
Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Dwight Gayle 2 - 3 Ravel Morrison
Stuart O'Keefe 1 - 2 Ricardo Vâz Te
Adrian Mariappa 1 - 2 Joe Cole
Barry Bannan 1 - 1 Carlton Cole
Danny Gabbidon 1 - 1 Winston Reid
Assists
Cameron Jerome 1 - 2 Matt Jarvis
Jose Campana 1 - 2 Ravel Morrison
Damien Delaney 1 - 2 Kevin Nolan
n/a 0 - 1 Stewart Downing
n/a 0 - 1 Mohamed Diamé
Passing Accuracy
Stuart O'Keefe 90% - 86% Ravel Morrison
Jerome Thomas 85% - 84% Mark Noble
Jose Campana 82% - 84% Stewart Downing
Jimmy Kebe 81% - 82% Joe Cole
Jason Puncheon 81% - 81% Kevin Nolan
Chances Created per game
Jerome Thomas 1.5 - 2.2 Stewart Downing
Cameron Jerome 1.4 - 1.8 Mark Noble
Barry Bannan 1.1 - 1.3 Matt Jarvis
Marouane Chamakh 1 - 1.1 Kevin Nolan
Jason Puncheon 1 - 1 Rǎzvan Raţ
Successful Dribbles per game
Yannick Bolasie 1.8 - 2.1 Mohamed Diamé
Jason Puncheon 1.5 - 1.8 Mark Noble
Jerome Thomas 1 - 1.8 Ravel Morrison
Dean Moxey 0.8 - 0.9 Stewart Downing
Joel Ward 0.7 - 0.9 Guy Demel
Tackles per game
Joel Ward 4.1 - 2.6 Mark Noble
Mile Jedinak 3.7 - 2.6 Mohamed Diamé
Jerome Thomas 2.8 - 2.4 James Collins
Dean Moxey 2.2 - 2 Winston Reid
Adrian Mariappa 2 - 1.9 Guy Demel
Aerial Duels Won per game
Marouane Chamakh 5.5 - 6.5 Modibo Maïga
Mile Jedinak 5.1 - 4.5 James Tomkins
Damien Delaney 2.8 - 3.4 James Collins
Danny Gabbidon 2.8 - 3.2 Winston Reid
Joel Ward 2.7 - 1.5 Guy Demel
Manager
Tony Pulis - Sam Allardyce
0% Current Club Win % 41.6%
0 Won 45
0 Drawn 29
1 Lost 34
36.6% Managerial Career Win % 39.9%
328 Won 339
269 Drawn 228
298 Lost 281
0 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 0
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