West Ham must bounce back at Crystal Palace

The last time West Ham met Crystal Palace will live in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

It was at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff back in 2004 and West Ham self-destructed to allow Palace to sneak into the Premier League by the back door with a 1-0 victory.

Just a month prior to that game, the Eagles had beaten the Hammers by the same scoreline thanks to a goal from Dougie Freedman and he will be plotting something similar on Saturday as the current Palace manager.

His team have been somewhat inconsistent so far this term, but they have a decent record at Selhurst Park.

They have already beaten Burnley and Coventry in the league at home as well as notching up a hat-trick of victories against Crawley, Premier League outfit Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup.

Their only home loss was also against Boro when they went down 1-0, but a superb 3-1 win at Brighton on Tuesday night suggests they are in good form.

Freedman brought in midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi during the summer in a �600,000 move from Fulham as well as the free scoring Glen Murray from Brighton, though after 56 goals in three seasons for the Seagulls, he has notched only one for the Eagles so far.

Striker Wilfried Zaha has scored all three of his goals in the Carling Cup and may well be the one to watch, while Sean Scannell also has three to his name.

West Ham have not won at Palace since way back in 1991 when goals from Mitchell Thomas, Trevor Morley and Mike Small gave them a 3-2 win, but despite Tuesday’s dismall loss, this could be the time to emulate that success.

Possible team: Speroni, Gardner, McCarthy, Moxey, Tunchen, Jediniak, Ambrose, Easter, Zaha, Scannell, Murray.

Prediction: Crystal Palace 1

West Ham United 3

For interactive coverage of Crystal Palace v West Ham, log on to www.london24.com/west-ham from 2.30pm this Saturday. You can set a reminder to make sure you don’t miss any of the action at Selhurst Park.