West Ham v Crystal Palace preview: Consistency the key for both sides

Consistency outside of Europe has been a real issue for the Hammers of late, with a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in the last round leaving David Moyes’ men just three points above the drop zone at the start of the round.

Returning to the London Stadium is sure to buoy the Irons courtesy of their longest stretch of consecutive home wins since an identical six-game run a decade ago. Within this current iteration is the Hammers’ first three-game streak of home league wins by multiple goal margins in eight years, whilst another would set a new club record for the PL era.

Providing the opposition is Crystal Palace, who sit two points above West Ham but have suffered similarly from inconsistency, illustrated by each of their games since the start of September producing differing results (W3, D2, L2). With the future of Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha (29) making headlines during the week, Patrick Vieira will hope that he can focus the minds of his charges as they seek back-to-back PL wins for the first time since May.

That may be easier said than done as Palace have not won any of their last seven PL away games and are without a goal in more than five hours of away play. Breaking that duck is likely here, with Palace failing to score in only one of the last eight away H2Hs (W2, D4, L2), whilst they also have not endured a four-game run of scoreless PL away games in more than two years.

Players to watch: A London derby calls for a couple of capital city specialists to take centre stage. West Ham’s Michail Antonio (32) has contributed to 15 goals in his last 19 London derby appearances (G8, A7), whilst Palace’s Odsonne Édouard (24) has scored all nine of his PL goals in the capital.

Hot stat: Crystal Palace have won a joint league-best three games when conceding the opening goal this season (W3, L2)