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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: Crystal Palace v West Ham

Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all West Ham Till I Die readers a very Merry Christmas!

Blast from the past

Syd King’s West Ham United arrived at The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace, the former home of our Boxing Day opponents, for a Southern League First Division fixture on 18th January 1908 while en route to a tenth-place finish. Four days later, Arthur Henderson became the second leader of the Labour Party following the resignation of Keir Hardie – Scotsman Hardie was a founder of the Labour Party in 1900 and had previously been the MP for West Ham South, as an independent candidate, between 1892 and 1895.

Outside-right David Lindsay made his 53rd and final appearance for the Hammers – the Scottish international had made his debut in September 1906 and had scored four goals for the club – he returned to Scotland to represent Leith Athletic. The Hammers recorded a 3-1 victory in front of 8,000 spectators, their first ever away victory against Crystal Palace. Lionel Watson (pictured) bagged his first of four goals in four games. The 26-year-old inside-left, who had played First Division football with Blackburn prior to moving south to sign for West Ham, scored 27 goals in his 80 appearances for the Hammers between September 1905 and April 1908. A great practical joker, he returned to Lancashire to join Blackpool and continued to live in the seaside town after his retirement from football, later working as an auctioneer before his death in 1945.

Legendary inside-right Danny Shea scored his first goal for the Irons away from Upton Park in this match and centre-forward Harry Stapley completed the Hammers’ scoring with his penultimate goal for the club – he moved into league football with Second Division Glossop later in 1908, retaining his amateur status so he could continue working as a schoolteacher.

Crystal Palace would finish the 1907/08 campaign in fourth position, while Stapley would end the season as the Irons’ top goalscorer with ten goals in 25 games.

West Ham United: George Kitchen, James Gault, Archie Taylor, Tommy Allison, Frank Piercy, Bob Young, David Lindsay, Danny Shea, Harry Stapley, Lionel Watson, Fred Blackburn.

Club Connections

James Tomkins and Cheikhou Kouyate welcome their former club to Selhurst Park. A large group of players have turned out for the Hammers and the Eagles. Divided here by position, they include:

Goalkeepers: Perry Suckling, Steve Mautone, Vincent Blore.

Defenders: Eddie Presland, Kenny Brown, Malcolm Pyke, Alf Noakes, Bill Roberts, Neil Ruddock, Paul Brush, Danny Gabbidon, Chris Powell, Alan Stephenson, Tony Gale, Darren Powell, Jose Fonte.

Midfielders: Jimmy Wood, Anton Otulakowski, Victor Moses, Hayden Mullins, Derek Jackman, Carl Fletcher, Harry Gunning, Jobi McAnuff, Fred Norris, Trevor Dawkins, Kyel Reid, Ray Houghton, Michael Hughes.

Strikers: Joe Johnson, Ron Williams, Ian Wright, Andy Smillie, Jeroen Boere, Johnny Cartwright, Johnny Byrne, Peter Simpson, Freddie Sears, Clive Allen, Dave Swindlehurst, Paul Kitson, Ron Brett, Dave Sexton, Marouane Chamakh, George Petchey.

Malcolm Allison and Jack Tresadern played for the Hammers and managed the Eagles, while Iain Dowie played for both clubs and also managed Palace. Alan Pardew played for the Eagles and managed both clubs. Sam Allardyce has also managed both clubs.

Today’s focus though is on a former Hammers defender and captain who had a loan spell with the Eagles. Matthew Upson was born in Suffolk on 18th April 1979. Originally at Ipswich’s School of Excellence, Upson joined Luton as a trainee after Ipswich youth coach, and former West Ham United Academy Director, Terry Westley moved to the Hatters. Upson joined Arsenal in 1997 after just one league appearance for Luton. After a year out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, the centre-half spent a short loan spell with Nottingham Forest.

Upson moved to Alan Smith’s Crystal Palace on loan in the spring of 2001, making his debut in a 2-0 home defeat to Preston on 3rd March 2001. He was on the losing side in each of his first four appearances for the Eagles as the First Division outfit battled against relegation but he tasted success in his fifth match, a 1-0 win over Crewe at Selhurst Park. He helped the Eagles to another clean sheet in his next match, a goalless draw with Huddersfield which ultimately relegated the Terriers, with Palace surviving at their expense by a single point. His seventh and final appearance for Crystal Palace came in a 2-2 draw at Watford on 7th April 2001.

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Upson spent the 2001/02 season back at Highbury, making 14 Premier League appearances which earnt him a title winners’ medal at the end of the campaign. He broke his leg in February 2002 and joined Reading on loan in September 2002 to aid his recovery and return to action. He signed permanently for David Sullivan and David Gold’s Birmingham in January 2003 and spent four years with the Blues, winning seven England caps during his time at St Andrew’s.

The 27-year-old Upson signed for Alan Curbishley’s West Ham United in January 2007 for an initial fee of £6m, rising to £7.5m depending on appearances. Birmingham boss Steve Bruce later claimed that he was forced to sell Upson by Karren Brady, Birmingham’s managing director at the time. Upson made his debut for the relegation-threatened Hammers at Aston Villa on 3rd February 2007, but had to be withdrawn with a calf injury 30 minutes into the 1-0 defeat. He lasted just 11 minutes of his comeback match a month later against Tottenham before again succumbing to injury in a match the Irons would eventually lose 4-3.

West Ham eventually pulled off the Great Escape without Upson but he was to have a much bigger impact throughout the rest of his career in claret and blue. He made 33 appearances in a 2007/08 season which saw West Ham finish tenth in Curbishley’s only full campaign in charge – his first goal for the Hammers was the winner in a 2-1 triumph over Manchester United at Upton Park on 29th December 2007. Upson also made a return to the England side under Fabio Capello in a 2-1 win over Switzerland in February 2008, becoming the first Hammers centre-half to wear the Three Lions since Rio Ferdinand eight years earlier.

In July 2008, Upson’s squad number of 6 was retired by the club in memory of Bobby Moore, after which he took the number 15 shirt. Gianfranco Zola took over early on in a 2008/09 campaign which saw Upson make 41 appearances in all competitions as the Irons finished ninth – he also won a further seven England caps, becoming a mainstay of Capello’s defence and making five starts. He was named Man of the Match and scored his first goal for his country in a 2-1 win in Germany in November 2008. Upson was linked with a £10m move to Manchester City and Tottenham in the January window of 2009, but Zola and the board opted to cash in on Craig Bellamy instead.

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The 2009/10 season began with Upson being appointed captain after the departure of Lucas Neill. Upson scored in the season’s opening match, a 2-0 win at Wolves, but bigger clubs had again been sniffing around, with a £15m bid from Liverpool reportedly rejected, while interest from Fiorentina, Arsenal and Aston Villa was also rebuffed. The club opted to sell James Collins instead. Upson made 35 appearances during the campaign, scoring a further two goals – in a 2-1 defeat at Stoke on 17th October 2009 and in a 1-1 draw at Avram Grant’s Portsmouth on 26th January 2010, which was to prove to be his final goal for the Hammers. The cash-strapped Irons avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth but Upson had still impressed sufficiently to travel to South Africa as part of England’s 2010 World Cup squad – he would end the tournament as the Three Lions’ joint-top goalscorer, thanks to his header in the 4-1 second round defeat to Germany. It was to be Upson’s second goal in his 21st and final cap for his country.

The 2010/11 season would be an unmitigated disaster for West Ham United. Grant joined the club as manager from Portsmouth, the first appointment by Upson’s former Birmingham employers Sullivan and Gold. He made 35 appearances as the Hammers were relegated in bottom position – his final match in claret and blue came in a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on 1st May 2011. The 32-year-old Upson left the club on a free transfer later that summer, opting to remain in the Premier League with Stoke. Upson had made 145 appearances for West Ham United, scoring four goals – each of these four goals can be viewed in my video below.

After a year and a half with Stoke, Upson dropped down to the Championship to sign for Brighton, initially on loan before making the move permanent in the summer of 2013. He returned to the top flight with Leicester a year later before signing for Championship side MK Dons in the summer of 2015. He retired from playing in 2016. Now 40, Upson is currently working as a pundit for the BBC – he has a son, Elijah, with his wife Ellie, a British runner.

Referee

The referee on Boxing Day will be Andre Marriner; the 48-year-old failed to send off Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero for an elbow on Winston Reid in August 2016, with the Hammers trailing 2-1 with 14 minutes remaining. The Argentine was retrospectively charged with violent conduct and suspended for three matches, a decision which did nothing to benefit West Ham. Marriner did, however, show leniency that day towards the visitors by failing to issue Arthur Masuaku with a second yellow card on more than one occasion.

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Since we achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 the Birmingham-based official has been far from a good omen for West Ham – he has refereed 18 of our league matches, officiating in only three wins for the Hammers, five draws and ten defeats. His most recent match officiating the Irons was our 2-0 defeat at Wolves earlier this month.

Possible line-ups

Crystal Palace look set to be without injured right-back Joel Ward and centre-backs Gary Cahill and Scott Dann. Roy Hodgson is also without Jeffrey Schlupp and Andros Townsend. Mamadou Sakho is available after suspension. All five of Roy Hodgson’s previous Boxing Day Premier League matches have ended in goalless draws. A league-low 15 goals have been scored at Selhurst Park this term. Crystal Palace won October’s reverse fixture 2-1, having previously recorded only one victory in ten Premier League games against West Ham, drawing four and losing five.

Manuel Pellegrini is without Winston Reid and Jack Wilshere but Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson are available. Ryan Fredericks is banned after collecting five yellow cards. Neither David Martin nor Lukasz Fabianski will be able to play two games in 48 hours. Aaron Cresswell and Robert Snodgrass are both one yellow card away from one-match bans. West Ham are unbeaten in their last five visits to Selhurst Park. Since their Premier League return in 2012, West Ham have won just one of five Boxing Day games, drawing two and losing two.

Possible Crystal Palace XI: Guaita; Kelly, Tomkins, Sakho, van Aanholt; Kouyate, Milivojevic, McArthur; Ayew, Benteke, Zaha.

Possible West Ham United XI: Martin; Zabaleta, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Snodgrass, Rice, Noble, Fornals; Antonio, Haller.

Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!

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