The festive schedule starts to kick in now as we brace ourselves for the first of six sets of fixtures this month. Gameweek 14 gets underway this evening with Tony Pulis’ first home match in charge of Crystal Palace as Sam Allardyce’s Hammers roll up to Selhurst Park:
The new Eagles manager has a tough task on his hands – his side have scored just once in the last five Gameweeks, courtesy of our “Spot the Differential” pick Barry Bannan, though one goal against in the previous three signifies their recent resilience at the back.
Big Sam’s side roll up on the back of a 3-0 home thrashing of Fulham last weekend, which ultimately led to the dismissal of Martin Jol. Having failed to score in four of their six road trips, though, there is a fear tonight’s game has 0-0 written all over it – a result that would send the viewing public to sleep, perhaps, but one that would be widely accepted around these parts, with many anticipating clean sheet returns.
The team news is now in and sees the home side unchanged from Saturday’s trip to Norwich, with Cameron Jerome up top alongside Marouane Chamakh. West Ham make four alterations from the weekend, with Joey O’Brien, Razvan Rat, Ravel Morrison and Carlton Cole replacing Guy Demel, George McCartney, Matt Jarvis and Modibo Maiga.
As always on Matchdays, we’ve opened up our Dugout Discussion chatroom right up until the final whistle for those looking to get involved in a spot of real-time banter.
