Opposition briefing: Graham Potter & West Ham United

Match previews

9 hours ago

Crystal Palace will be looking to extend our club record of six Premier League away matches without defeat when we make the short journey east to face West Ham United on Saturday, 18th January (15:00 GMT). Here's everything you need to know about the Hammers and their new boss...

Factfile

Manager: Graham Potter
Position: 13th
Nickname: The Hammers / Irons
Ground: London Stadium
Founded: 1895 (129 years ago)

What’s the story?

Fortune has hitherto been hiding for West Ham United this season, despite an eye-raising summer's recruitment in the transfer market.

Big-money signings, including Palace Academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka; Premier League veteran Max Kilman; Championship Player of the Year, Crysencio Summerville; and Germany international forward Niclas Füllkrug – as well as loanees Jean-Clair Todibo and Carlos Soler – saw many label the Hammers as strong contenders for European qualification once again this season.

Should that come to pass, however, it will not be under the charge of another of West Ham's summer arrivals; Head Coach Julen Lopetegui departed the club last week after just six wins – and nine defeats – in the opening 20 games of the season.

In, then, came Graham Potter, joining on a two-and-a-half year contract, and aiming to build on his success at Brighton & Hove Albion, whom he led to a then-record high Premier League finish before moving to Chelsea.

There was to be no immediate wizardry in Potter's first match in charge. Just a day after his formal announcement, the Hammers exited the FA Cup following a 2-1 defeat away to Aston Villa – but a 3-2 win over a strong Fulham side in midweek gives East Londoners cause for a brighter outlook.

Time will tell whether, in the second half of the season, the Hammers are capable of conjuring the kind of form which yielded three consecutive campaigns of European football, and which peaked so memorably with a first major trophy in 43 years – the UEFA Europa Conference League against Fiorentina – just two seasons ago.

The boss

Whereas Potter's 14-year playing career perhaps did not earn the Solihull-born left-back too many headlines – save, perhaps, for his involvement in a famous 6-3 win over Manchester United with Southampton in October 1996 – the 49-year-old has made a unique journey to attain his current managerial status.

Renowned for his tactical fluidity and adaptability within matches, Potter has also demonstrated a commitment to controlling possession and dominating the pitch, pressing high and forcing errors from the opposition.

It was an approach which served the Hammers well in Tuesday's win over Fulham – the visitors were twice caught playing out from the back, to their ultimate cost – and which also fuelled Potter's success at Swedish club Östersund, whom he guided to three promotions in four years and, eventually, the Europa League knockout stages.

After an altogether brief stint at Chelsea, time will tell if Potter will return West Ham to consistently winning ways.

Boot in both camps

Hayden Mullins was born in Reading but first turned professional at Palace, where he would make 257 senior appearances across five seasons, winning Player of the Year twice and captaining the side in the 02/03 season, before moving to West Ham in October 2003.

“I loved my time at Crystal Palace, and equally my time at West Ham I also loved. They’re great football clubs," Mullins later said.

Michael Hughes, meanwhile, will be remembered by both Palace and West Ham supporters for a multitude of defining moments in both South and East London.

Hughes moved to West Ham from Strasbourg, becoming the first-ever British player to change clubs for free on a Bosman ruling, before later enjoying spells at Wimbledon and Birmingham. He then made a switch to Palace which – as he himself admitted – was hotly disputed, but led to a remarkable chapter in his career.

"It was just an opportunity that was too good to turn down," Hughes told cpfc.co.uk in 2023, with the Northern Ireland midfielder going on to captain the Eagles.

Record against Palace

Palace's first home game of this season ended in a disappointing defeat to the Hammers; despite Ebere Eze hitting the bar and the Eagles creating a number of decent openings, two clinical goals on the counter-attack saw West Ham emerge 2-0 victors.

Palace have nevertheless enjoyed a relatively strong recent record against their East London rivals, winning three of the previous four encounters, including an emphatic 5-2 in at Selhurst Park last season, when Oliver Glasner's side raced into a four-goal lead inside the opening half-an-hour.

Two-minute highlights: Crystal Palace 5-2 West Ham

Palace have plenty of other favourable recent memories against the Hammers, including Jordan Ayew's remarkable Boxing Day winner, Michael Olise's 94th-minute strike at London Stadium – "shot, scored" – and a dramatic Selhurst 4-3 win two seasons ago.

ACCESS ALL OVER | Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham

Did you know?

Ever wondered where the name ‘West Ham’ comes from? Or, more specifically, the ‘Ham’ part? Who knew there were so many toponymy enthusiasts among us?

Initially spelled ‘Hamme’, the land was granted by the fantastically named King Edgar to the even more fantastically named Ealdorman Athelstan in 958. The Old English word ‘Hamm’ translates as ‘a dry area of land between rivers and marshland’; lying between the Thames, the Lea and the Roding, it was a perfect name.

In 1186 the area was referred to as ‘Westhamma’, and so the name was born. Ironically, hundreds of years later it became one of the major manufacturing hubs for processed foods, earning it the 19th century nickname ‘London over the border’, and would, according to the Times, “make the once desolate parish of West Ham a manufacturing and commercial centre of the first importance and to bring upon it a teeming and an industrious population”.

Match details

Saturday, 18th January
15:00 GMT
London Stadium
Live audio commentary on Palace TV+

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