Former England international midfielder Paul Merson has tipped Crystal Palace to come away from the London derby with a victory tonight.
The Eagles take on West Ham United at the London stadium in the Premier League this evening, kick-off is scheduled for 19:45 (GMT).
Palace January signing Erdal Rakip could make his debut for his new club tonight. The Sweden international of Turkish decent joined the Premier League club on loan from Benfica.
The 21-year-old recently took to social media to share photos of himself participating in first-team training.
//www.instagram.com/p/BedvkOmnvJM/?hl=en&taken-by=erdalrakip
Hodgson may be forced into fielding the box-to-box midfielder due to the injury crisis at the club.Yohan Cabaye, Scott Dann, Loftus Cheek, Jason Puncheon, Mamadou Sakho, Schlupp and Conner Wickham are all ruled out with injuries.
Merson believes Palace will bounce back from their heavy defeat to Arsenal to record a victory tonight.
“This is a big football match for both teams. I’m going to forget about Crystal Palace’s performance at Arsenal,” Merson told SkySports.
“They started so poorly and were blown away in the first 20 minutes but I’m expecting a better showing from them here. I picked them for victory at the Emirates so I have to keep faith with them here.”
A victory for Palace tonight could see them move up to eighth place in the League.
