Bragging rights on offer as Palace face struggling West Ham in London derby

After the mediocre England performance on Tuesday, once again England’s lukewarm performances can be pushed to the back of our collective minds as we turn our attention back to club football. For Palace fans that means entertaining a West Ham side that have made a slow start to this campaign and subsequently find themselves sandwiched between Swansea and Stoke third from bottom.

On a personal level, it was a generally successful international break for Palace players. Sterling’s withdrawal through injury saw Andros Townsend called up to the England side for the first time in over a year and he went on to collect his twelfth cap from the bench in the draw away in Slovenia. While England’s performance in general was the epitome of mediocre, Townsend rightly drew praise for his attacking instincts and confidence going forward. The call up, the glowing comments from Southgate and the subsequent performance (however brief it may have been) will do his confidence the world of good.

Goal scorer, hat-trick hero and record breaker: those are three phrases that can now be used to describe the magical Christian Benteke after he netted after just 8.1 seconds against Gibraltar before going on to grab two more and the match ball. Add his haul on Monday night to his impressive performances and important goals for Palace and it looks as if he’s really starting to hit his stride. I said I thought he needed some time to get up to speed after his Liverpool stint and playing week in and week out seems to have had the desired effect – he is high on confidence and looks as if he is quickly rediscovering the form we all believed him to capable of.

Looking ahead to Saturday, the visit of West Ham could be a significant one for Damien Delaney and the shape of our defence going forward. I predicted it could be the beginning of the end for Damo after Tomkins was named ahead of him for the visit of Stoke. An injury forced Pardew’s hand at half time in that game, with Tomkins being withdrawn and replaced by Delaney. The subsequent spell on the side-lines for Tomkins saw Delaney restored the team full time, partnering Scott Dann while Tomkins was out and then vice versa in the last couple of fixtures.

Saturday could be the turning point though. Scott Dann has trained this week after missing a couple of games through injury and, if he’s anywhere close to fit, will play a part on Saturday. Scott Dann is an unquestionable starter in the heart of defence, his ability combined with the captaincy makes him one of the first names on the team sheet if he’s fit. That leaves Damien Delaney and James Tomkins to scrap over the remaining starting berth and while Delaney has done well in the absence of Scott Dann, looking long term, at the age of 27 James Tomkins is the long-term partner for Scott Dann. Is now the time to initiate that change? Who knows. What I do know is that Alan Pardew is going to have a tough decision to make sooner or later…

In terms of form, Crystal Palace and West Ham find themselves in starkly contrasting situations - while West Ham are without a win in 5 league games, Palace haven’t tasted defeat during the same period. West Ham’s problems seem to stem from their defensive frailties, they’ve conceded at least three goals in four of the last five Premier League games – one of which was against West Brom, a side who, under Pulis, are unlikely to score 4 in a game again this decade, let alone this season.

The omens then, are good. Christian Benteke looks to complete the Palace jigsaw going forward, he provides a focal point with real quality and his ability in the air makes him a dream for the two wingers to work with. Pair that up with a team that have obviously struggled defensively and we could be in for a fantastic game. If we can nick a goal early on we could see a repeat of Stoke – if West Ham don’t get off to a good start the fans will be on their back, make no mistake about it and an early goal could see their heads drop.

On form, we should win this game. That being said, I’m a Palace fan and that means I am all too familiar with our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. West Ham will turn the corner at some point, Carroll and Cresswell could well be fit to return this weekend and Dimitri Payet is capable of the spectacular every time he steps onto the pitch.

If both sides play as they have been, we could win this by a margin. If West Ham’s ‘corner turning’ happens this weekend, we could be in trouble.

I’m hoping for the former