**West Ham United face Crystal Palace tomorrow on Monday Night Football as the Hammers look to increase the gap from the relegation zone to four points.**
Like every match for the rest of the season, this is a crucial match for Nuno Espiritio Santo’s side, and one with a real chance of winning for a couple of reasons.
One, we have a very good record against the Eagles, and two, the Premier League is no longer the priority, not only are they in the semi-finals of the Conference League, but they also don’t have anything to play for in the League.
So, they may put all their eggs in the European basket and rest some players or not go as hard for the win, which we know all about from the 22/23 campaign.
We need to make the most out of that, and to do that, we need to make sure we play the best side we possibly can, and to do that, I think there only has to be one change, if that.
My team to face Crystal Palace: Hermansen; Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Disasi, Wan-Bissaka; Bowen, Fernandes, Soucek, Summerville; Pablo, Castellanos.
The only two players Nuno could consider dropping from the starting XI after the emphatic 4-0 win over Wolves are Summerville and Malick Diouf. I’d only drop one of them, and it’s the latter.
I thought Diouf was really, really poor in the first half, and while he did get better in the second half, I don’t think we can afford for someone to play that badly against a much better team in Palace, and a better direct opponent in what is likely to be Ismaila Sarr.
I’d keep Summerville in because the more he plays, the more he gets into a rhythm, so the more he plays, the more quickly he will click back into gear in the last six matches of the season. Also, last weekend was his first match back from injury, so we can forgive him for his lack of sharpness.
We simply have to keep the 4-4-2 formation for Monday, and for the rest of the season, we’ve had the most success this season using it, and we need to get as many points on the board as possible.
Palace also plays a two in midfield, so we won’t get outnumbered in there, and Fernandes and Soucek should be more than good enough to get the better of whoever is playing in there for the Eagles, especially if the news is right and Adam Wharton is out with a knock.