West Ham take on Crystal Palace this weekend and the stars seem to be aligning for Julen Lopetegui in his quest for a first win.
The Hammers and Crystal Palace have both been tipped to do well in the Premier League this season.
Palace ended last season as one of the form teams in the top flight, playing some brilliant football too.
Many journalists and pundits are backing West Ham for Europe after making eight signings and counting.
Amid the high hopes for the Irons and Eagles, though, both teams started the new Premier League season with disappointing 2-1 defeats against Aston Villa and Brentford respectively.
West Ham have bad memories of facing Crystal Palace after being battered 5-2 at Selhurst Park in April.
Stars align for Lopetegui in quest for first win
Palace have lost Hammers tormentor in chief Michael Olise since then. The French winger has three goals and three assists in five games against West Ham.
Julen Lopetegui’s hopes of a first win as Hammers boss were boosted yesterday when it emerged Palace are selling defender Joachim Andersen to Fulham for £30m.
Then Premier Injuries reported that Matheus Franca definitely won’t be playing for the Eagles against the Irons.
And influential midfielder Cheick Doucoure is a doubt too.
Well the stars seem to be aligning for Lopetegui as West Ham get another monumental boost for Crystal Palace.
West Ham get another monumental boost for Palace
According to Sky Sports’ Newcastle reporter Keith Downie, the Magpies are edging closer to agreeing a fee with Palace for star defender Marc Guehi.
And there is ‘cautious optimism’ a deal could be struck by the weekend.
If accurate, that will almost certainly rule Guehi out of the clash with West Ham along with Andersen.
The deal is rumoured to be worth between £65-70m so Crystal Palace are not going to take such a massive risk with the window closing next week.
“Newcastle are this morning edging closer to reaching agreement with Crystal Palace for Marc Guehi,” Downie said.
“There is cautious optimism a deal could be struck by the weekend with Palace privately accepting it would be beneficial to cash in now while Guehi’s value is high.
“Further talks were held over the last 24 hours, and a package of £65m + add-ons is likely to see a deal struck.
“This would represent a club-record for Newcastle.”
No better time for Hammers to play Eagles
Without Andersen and Guehi – along with Franca and possibly Doucoure being out too – there will perhaps be no better time for West Ham to play Palace.
The likes of Niclas Fullkrug, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen will be licking their lips.
Guehi was one of the best players at the Euros and Andersen always seems to have a good game against the Hammers.
It’s not been all positive news for the Hammers, though.
West Ham will be furious about who has been selected as referee for the game against Crystal Palace.
A win for West Ham would ease pressure on Lopetegui among the wider football media, who will be keen to jump on the Spaniard after the way things ended with David Moyes.
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