Lopetegui challenges West Ham to show ´competitive´ edge against Palace

Julen Lopetegui is eyeing improvements from West Ham as they target their first win of the season against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Spaniard’s first game in charge ended in disappointment, as the Hammers conceded a late goal in a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend.

Though West Ham have brought in a whole host of new signings, few featured at the London Stadium, but Lopetegui could choose to ring in the changes in an attempt to get their first points on the board under his charge.

“The Premier League is the most demanding competition around the world, so the little details are key,” he said.

“It’s true that we lost against one of the best teams in the Premier League in the last season.

“We have to keep the good things that we showed, and we did, and we have to improve the bad things to be more competitive.”

Volleys pic.twitter.com/YZIiEiQEMy

— West Ham United (@WestHam) August 20, 2024

Meanwhile, Palace also lost their opening game, going down 2-1 to Brentford after they had an early Eberechi Eze goal chalked out when the referee blew his whistle before the ball crossed the line.

Oliver Glasner has seen the Eagles go from strength to strength under his leadership, with only Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea earning more points than them since he took over in February.

The German was left frustrated by the manner of their defeat to the Bees and admitted there is still work for Palace to do to get back to the level they showed last season.

“We feel disappointed of losing the season opener,” he told the BBC.

“It feels like we shouldn’t lose the game. There were many situations where we did okay but know we can do better.

“In decisive situations, we were not on our top level.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Crystal Palace – Eberechi Eze

Eberechi Eze had more shots on matchday one than any other Premier League player (seven). It is the third time he has had 7+ shots in a Premier League game without scoring, the most of any Crystal Palace player on record (since 2004-05).

Another day of hard work #CPFC pic.twitter.com/lo1ZRCZ18m

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 21, 2024

West Ham – Tomas Soucek

Despite losing to Aston Villa, West Ham had the second-highest expected goals total of any Premier League side on the opening weekend (2.5 behind Liverpool’s 2.7).

Tomas Soucek was responsible for 1.1 of those with his five shots, though he failed to hit the target with any of them.

MATCH PREDICTION: CRYSTAL PALACE WIN

Palace have won their last two Premier League home games against West Ham, having won just one of their previous eight against them at Selhurst Park (drew two, lost five).

In fact, Palace’s recent home form is impressive after they won their final four Premier League games of 2023-24 at Selhurst Park by an aggregate score of 16-2. The Eagles have not won five consecutive such games since October 2001 (a run of six), while they have never done so in the top-flight.

However, Palace have won just five of their last 25 Premier League games in August (drawn seven, lost 13). Indeed, in all months they have played at least 10 games in the competition, they have fewer wins (11) and their lowest win rate (21%) in August.

Meanwhile, West Ham lost 2-1 against Aston Villa in their opening Premier League match this season – no side has lost both of their opening two games in a single campaign more often than the Hammers (eight, level with Southampton).

The Hammers lost their last three Premier League games against fellow London sides in 2023-24, with the last two seeing them lose 5-2 at Crystal Palace and 5-0 at Chelsea. No team in English Football League history has ever conceded 5+ goals in three consecutive London derby matches before.

The last four Premier League meetings between Palace and West Ham at Selhurst Park have produced a total of 24 goals, an average of six per game (13 for Palace, 11 for West Ham). Both teams have scored at least twice in each of these four matches.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Crystal Palace – 43.6%

Draw – 25.4%

West Ham – 31%