Eight placed West Ham take on twelfth placed Crystal Palace at the London stadium in the Irons fourth London Derby of the season.
If the Hammers did win tonight they would set the record for the best start to a season since 1983.
Riley Finch is set to take you through the action.
Team talk
Both teams face no new injuries as Arthur Masuaku remains side-lined for the Irons and Michail Antonio’s return is set for the Chelsea game.
Palace on the other hand are still without Nathan Ferguson, Wayne Hennessey, Martin Kelly and Connor Wickham while Mamadou Sakho is to be assessed.
Two players who have been at the heart of their sides attack is West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen and of Crystal Palace’s star-man Wilfred Zaha. Will they continue their form in tonight’s game?
Craving more pre-match info? Check out Charlie Scott’s match preview (below)
Line-ups
Just the one change from the side which beat Leeds on Friday as Issa Diop returns to the Irons starting eleven for the first time since isolating with Covid-19.
Sebastien Haller’s goal drought extended to three games against Leeds, can he end that drought tonight?
The Eagles only played three-days ago so their was always likely to be changes to their squad and there is.
Three changes are made to the team which drew to Spurs.
Jordan Ayew features on the bench, he scored the tie-breaker against the two sides in their last fixture. Could he be the difference tonight as well?
Both teams are in fine goal scoring form so we should expect plenty of goals from tonight’s fixture.
The only thing we can’t predict, the score-line.
The way this season is going it’s really anyone’s game. Who will take the points?
Kick-off is just moments away.
Embed from Getty ImagesKick-off
00′ We are underway at the London Stadium.
03′ It’s a lively start to the game, no surprises there. Zaha wriggles through the West Ham defence but his shot is blocked well by the Italian stallion, Angelo Ogbonna.
10′ Bowen could have been in there but he was wrestled off the ball by former West Ham player Cheikhou Kouyate who then clears. It will be a good night for Palace if they can keep him quiet.
14′ JUST NEEDED THE FINISH
Eberechi Eze works the ball wonderfully down the left-hand side of the box but nobody is there to slot in his dangerous drilled pass across the face of goal.
Embed from Getty Images19′ Palace asserting some dominance in the early stages here, West Ham have had some half-chances but their opposition looking the most likely to grab the first goal of the game.
22′ The Hammers could be forced into an early change here. This could be devastating. Aaron Creswell has gone down off the ball, with Masuaku out this would be a massive blow. Something to watch out for.
Embed from Getty Images27′ We were expecting a lively contest but I must say it’s been pretty cagey so far. Zero shots on goal from both sides. That is likely to change.
35′ GOOOOAAAALLL (CRYSTAL PALACE) FIRST SHOT ON TARGET
Easy as you like. The quality of the ball from Joel Ward was superb, all it needed was someone on the end of it and that someone was Christian Benteke. A lovely diving header.
West Ham trailed last week to come back and win, can they do it again?
39′ West Ham responded well after trailing to Leeds last week but have showed little fightback in this fixture. That will need to change and soon.
42′ Better from the Irons. Bowen cuts in and lashes a shot at goal but Vicente Guaita saves well through a sea of bodies.
44′ IT SHOULD BE TWO
That goes down as the almost goal of the season. Benteke tries an audacious flick after a terrific run from Andros Townsend but it rolls straight to Lukasz Fabianski. A simpler finish would have given him his second goal. Will that come back to haunt the visitors?
Half-time
Palace lead at the break after a cagey first-half from both sides.
Talking points
It’s a really simple game-plan from the visitors but an effective one.
Palace have held a really defensively compact shape inviting West Ham forward allowing them to counter attack with Zaha and Eze down the flanks, Benteke the clear target in the box.
His goal separates the sides.
Embed from Getty ImagesWest Ham will need to be more inventive in the second-half, Haller once again feels very isolated in attack despite a number of good crosses being presented in the box.
One on target for West Ham and two for Crystal Palace, hopefully that changes in the second-half.
Second-half
45′ West Ham search for an equaliser as we once again kick-off at the London stadium.
46‘ One shot on target will worry David Moyes, can Manuel Lanzini be a more attacking threat?
51′ The cagey nature of the first half looks set to continue, no real chances for either side as of yet.
56′ GOOOOAAAALL (WEST HAM) UNBELEIVABLE
Vladimir Coufal pings a beautiful ball into a stacked penalty area and Haller attempts a spectacular bicycle kick which flies into the top corner of the Palace net. What a goal. Question is, is it better than Andy Carroll’s?
61′ West Ham just looking to push on from that goal, the game is opening up nicely. The introduction of Lanzini providing a much better flow to the Irons passing.
66′ Both sides have only tallied two-shots on target so far this match and yet each have a goal. A couple more on target and we could see an five-goal-thriller here.
70′ THEY ARE DOWN TO TEN MEN (CRYSTAL PALACE)
He has had a brilliant afternoon but a flailing arm from a leaping Benteke grants him another yellow card which he trades in for a red. Slightly harsh on the attacker as he claims his innocence. How will Roy Hodgson react?
76′ The stage is set for Ayew to do what he has done twice in the two sides last meetings, score a late winner. He replaces Eze.
80′ West Ham intent on finding a winner, can Andriy Yarmelenko provide it?
85′ Looks as though Palace may be keen to settle for a point, Townsend is replaced by Jeffrey Schlupp
88′ A final attacking change from West Ham, could Robert Snodgrass make the difference in the closing stages?
90′ Four minutes still to be played. Will there be a winner?
90+5′ Full-time
The points are shared at the London stadium.
Post-match
A spectacular over-head kick from Haller cancelled out Benteke’s early header for the the points to be shared at the London stadium.
It looked as though the home side could have pushed on to get the winner after goal-scorer Benteke was sent off for a second bookable offence but Palace stood firm.
That win raises the Irons one position to seventh while Crystal Palace remain at twelfth.
That’s all from me, I hope you enjoyed the game.
Click here to see the player ratings from everyone involved tonight.
