CRYSTAL PALACE meet West Ham on Tuesday night at Selhurst Park. Brett Curtis (@Brett_Curtis92) is on-hand to deliver his favourite fancies.
Crystal Palace vs West Ham | Tuesday 26th January 2021, 18:00 | BT Sport
Astonishingly, West Ham will move above Liverpool into fourth place if they win, while Crystal Palace could move above Leeds into 12th place by avoiding defeat.
David Moyes' side have been on quite the run of late, winning their last three league matches. No side outside of the traditional Big Six has beaten the Hammers since Newcastle's surprise 2-0 win at the London Stadium on the opening weekend of the season, so they're clearly a tough nut to crack.
Roy Hodgson's side, meanwhile, have only managed to beat the league's bottom two (Sheffield United and West Brom) in their last 11 league games.
With West Ham failing to score on only three occasions this season and Palace keeping just three clean sheets, I certainly fancy the Hammers to score on Tuesday.
Stuart Attwell officiates the London clash, with the 38-year-old showing each team at least one yellow card each and 30+ Booking Points overall in all of his 10 Premier League games this season. In fact, these two cards marks have landed in 29 of Attwell's last 31 PL games going back to the start of last season.
As such, I will back Over 0 Goals for West Ham, Over 0 Cards for each team and Over 2 Cards for Both Teams Combined at 23/20 using bet365's Bet Builder. (FYI: If one team receives only one yellow card and the other team receives one red card but no yellow cards, this would still land.)
I was surprised to see that Both Teams To Score has copped in the last seven meetings between these teams, too, so 19/20 is decent odds. However, West Ham's solid defence and Palace's toothless attack put me off backing it personally.
Instead, I've got two player prop fancies. Luka Milivojevic is no stranger to a booking, racking up four cautions in his first seven league starts this season, which left the midfielder walking a disciplinary tight-rope in each of Palace's last four games.
However, now that Palace have played their 19th league game of the season, the Serbian has managed to avoid a one-game ban and may feel liberated to hack away at Said Benhrama in particular, with the Algerian likely to start in West Ham's number ten position.
The former Brentford man is capable of drawing a foul from even the most disciplined of opponents, so with Attwell in charge I'm happy to back Milivojevic to be carded at 5/2 (Betfair), especially as he was cautioned for a cynical pull-back on Declan Rice in last month's meeting between these two sides.
Another player who could be in for a tough evening is Vladimir Coufal, with the West Ham right-back likely to face Eberechi Eze down that flank.
Eze is Palace's main creative outlet, with Coufal comfortably West Ham's most prolific tackler, landing three or more in eight of his 15 league starts this season. Coufal made six against Palace last month, so odds of 5/6 (Sky Bet) for the Czech international to make three or more look good. He's 9/1 to make 6+ against Palace once again.
Best Bets
Crystal Palace vs West Ham – West Ham to score, Over 0 Cards Each and Over 2 Cards (23/20 Bet365)
Crystal Palace vs West Ham – Luka Milivojevic to be carded (5/2 Betfair)
Crystal Palace vs West Ham – Vladimir Coufal 3+ tackles (5/6 Sky Bet)
