West Ham are braced for a crucial game in the Premier League tomorrow afternoon, when the Hammers travel across London to tackle Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Slaven Bilic’s future remains in doubt despite the 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in midweek and he’ll need another victory to ease the pressure upon him, with the Hammers sitting above the relegation zone on only goal difference.
Crystal Palace also find themselves in danger, rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after picking up just three points from nine matches, and a defeat for the Eagles would leave them further behind the pace.
After the midweek win, West Ham will certainly be full of confidence but securing a result against Crystal Palace, who’s last home match saw them defeat defending champions Chelsea, will be difficult- and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson doesn’t think the Hammers will take all three points.
Predicting a 1-1 draw from the clash, as he stated he doesn’t see a similar result to what West Ham secured in the early stages of last season.
‘West Ham’s win over Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday was a super result for them and their under-pressure manager Slaven Bilic. If the reports at the start of the week that Bilic had two games to save his job are true, then he needs a similar outcome at Selhurst Park on Saturday.’
‘Bilic would definitely settle for a repeat of what happened this time last year, when West Ham went to Palace after taking one point from their previous five Premier League games – and won. I don’t see it happening, though.’
A draw could see West Ham slip into the bottom three, should other results over the course of the weekend go against them, and that could spell the end for Bilic’s tenure.
