Palace v West Ham United

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Nathaniel Clyne

Team news

Young right-back Nathaniel Clyne could make his first start of the season since breaking his foot against Bournemouth during a pre-season friendly.

Left-back Lee Hills (knee) and midfielders Kagisho Dikgacoi (hamstring) and Owen Garvan (hip) are absentees.

West Ham players Joey O'Brien, Matt Taylor and Winston Reid face fitness tests ahead of the game. Sam Baldock is likely to feature on the bench with Carlton Cole alone in attack. Frederic Piquionne is back after serving a ban, while winger Gary O'Neil (ankle) continues his rehabilitation.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"They've got a fantastic squad, financial power and fan base to push them right up the top of the league. I believe West Ham will go very close (to promotion) and if anyone's challenging them I expect them to be in the top six.

"They are also very good on the road, with the experience they have and such an experienced manager. All I can ask from my players is that they play to their potential. If they do I strongly believe we're in with a chance of winning the game. The problem we have sometimes is that, because of having a few youngsters, our potential can dip but that's where we are right now. If we play to our potential it's a winnable game.

"We don't roll over against anybody, I expect the game to be very tight and at Selhust Park right now there's a good feel and a good buzz about the place. The fans are enjoying themselves and so are the players. We're playing with a smile on our face. West Ham will be a difficult game but as long as we keep that attitude to playing and giving our all for the club then I'm happy as a manager."

Sam Allardyce

"We bounced back from Cardiff with a win at Doncaster, but obviously I think the Crystal Palace match will be much more difficult than the Doncaster one, because at that point they hadn’t got off to a good start, and were lacking confidence which has unfortunately cost Sean O’Driscoll his job in the end.

"So it will be a tougher game than that but based on our away form and results I expect us to be better than we were against Ipswich and that will give us an opportunity to get a result at Palace."

Dave Swindlehurst

"I'll be watching with my two nephews. Lee is a Palace fan while Clive supports West Ham as they both started following the team I played for when they were born. I'll be sitting between them to make sure they both behave themselves!

"I still live in the Palace area and I keep an eye on both of them as they were my former clubs. I think they'll both be pretty pleased with the starts they have made to the season.

"I think Dougie Freedman has done a great job as I think Palace still don't have the biggest budget but they've done well as they have managed to bring few quite a few young players who seem to be making a difference.

"I remember playing for West Ham against Palace in an FA Cup game. We were losing 1-0 at the time but I scored an equaliser and we got a draw and went on to win the replay.

"I always think that Palace have been treated as a minor club by a lot of the North London teams who view the games with the likes of Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea as being the bigger London derbies. Palace themselves are more concerned with the game with Brighton and Millwall so this fixture hasn't quite got the same edge but it will still be competitive."

West Ham United - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
4th	9	5	2	2	17

Full league table

West Ham United - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
6	3	2	1	11	7

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
29/05/2004	League	West Ham United	0 - 1	Crystal Palace
12/04/2004	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	West Ham United
01/10/2003	League	West Ham United	3 - 0	Crystal Palace
05/05/1998	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 3	West Ham United
03/12/1997	League	West Ham United	4 - 1	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

West Ham United 0-1 Palace

Saturday May 29 2004

West Ham United: Bywater, Repka, Dailly, Melville, Mullins, Harewood (Reo-Coker, 69), Carrick, Lomas, Etherington, Zamora (Deane, 70), Connolly (Hutchison, 74)

Subs not used: Srnicek,Brevett

Bookings: Etherington, Mullins, Repka

Palace: Vaesen, Butterfield (Powell, 69), Popovic, Leigertwood, Granville, Routledge, Riihilahti, Derry, Hughes, Shipperley, Johnson

Subs not used: Freedman, Berthelin, Black, Watson

Bookings: Derry, Hughes, Routledge

Goals: Shipperley 62