Football – England – Premier League
Saturday 23rd August 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Crystal Palace were dealt a massive blow to their Premiership preparations just a few days before the new season began when manager Tony Pulis shocked the club with his immediate resignation.
It’s still unknown as to the reason for his departure but it is believed to involve disagreements over transfers during the summer. Replacement boss Keith Millen who was previously manager of Championship outfit Bristol City has taken over the reigns at Selhurst Park and saw his new charges fall to defeat way at The Emirates, losing 1-2 to Arsenal despite making a dream start to the new campaign as they led 1-0 through new signing Hangeland.
However, they now play their first home match of the season at Selhurst Park this afternoon and a chance to get something on the board with the visit of Big Sam’s West Ham side. It’ll be interesting to see what formation Millen employs here today as he went with a 4-4-1-1 at Arsenal in a ‘damage limitation’ set-up.
Palace fans will be expecting The Eagles to attack more on home turf and to see more goals this term as Crystal Palace’s overall home record last season finished up on a dour 8-3-8 18/23. To put this into perspective, only relegated Norwich City (17 goals) scored fewer home goal than The Eagles last term.
Winger Jason Puncheon will also miss today’s match after receiving a red card at Arsenal, and this further impacts upon Palace’s attacking threats.
Visitors West Ham lost a tight encounter at home to London rivals Tottenham in their season opener at the Boleyn ground last Saturday, with goalmouth chances at a premium and a total of just 11 shots on goal between the two teams.
Manager Sam Allardyce was widely criticised by the Hammers fans last season as they demanded a more attractive brand of football, and with Sam employing a very defensive (and dare I say negative) 4-2-3-1 formation at home to Tottenham last week, it was no surprise that they walked away empty-handed.
But the facts of the matter are that Big Sam steered West Ham out of trouble last season and retained their Premiership status for another season. I can’t see him deploying a different formation here this afternoon as they travel to another London club, but without the services of striker Andy Carroll, his hands are tied to some extent and may go with Cole up front as the lone striker again this afternoon.
Once Enner Valencia gains full fitness following his World Cup exploits then we’ll see him as the preferred option up front. But first and foremost, and for the time being, we’re likely to see West Ham set up to be hard to beat rather than forcing the issue, especially in the first few weeks of this new campaign.
This therefore leads me to believe that goals will again be at a premium at Selhurst Park this afternoon and the match may well end up perhaps a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. But my pick for this one is the Under 2.25 goals.
Pick: Under 2.25 goals @ 1.75 Pinnacle
