Michael Owen has predicted West Ham to defeat Crystal Palace when the two Premier League sides clash on Saturday.
The Hammers are set to host Roy Hodgson’s side, who are currently ninth in the league, at the London Stadium this weekend and Owen believes the Hammers will have too much going forward for Palace to handle.
Owen also suggested he was backing Manuel Pellegrini’s side to get another win on the board due to their recent form as he highlighted how the Hammers have been unbeaten in the league ever since their 5-0 loss to Manchester City.
“West Ham remain unbeaten in the league since their opening day mauling at the hands of Manchester City,” wrote Owen in his BetVictor blog.
“I expect them to have too many guns in this London derby for a Palace side who saw Wilfried Zaha back to his very best in their win over Norwich at Selhurst Park last weekend.”
OPINION
West Ham have a powerful front-line on paper and that hasn’t escaped Owen’s attention. The pundit clearly believes the Hammers frontline is so good that it won’t have any trouble breaking Palace down, and that’s quite bold when you consider Palace’s defensive record this season. Crystal Palace have only conceded seven goals in their opening seven league matches, and only two teams, Leicester City and Liverpool, have conceded fewer goals. However, it’s easy to see why Owen is willing to go out on a limb and back the Hammers’ firepower to be the difference-maker on Saturday after all West Ham have racked up 10 goals in seven games. Also, their goals have come from different sources so it’s not like Palace can just heavily man-mark one player in order to stop the Hammers scoring. Seven different Hammers player have contributed goals, when you take all competitions into account, and while Sebastien Haller leads the club’s scoring charts with three, he clearly isn’t the only one Palace have to focus on stopping. (Source: BBC Sport)
