Oliver Glasner backs Crystal Palace star to deliver potentially fatal Graham Potter blow

Oliver Glasner has been speaking about West Ham ahead of Crystal Palace’s visit to the London Stadium. The Eagles have had an interesting start to the season, remaining unbeaten across all competitions, but they have only won once in the Premier League up to this point.

Glasner will be delighted with the resilience his side have shown, but he will know that more wins are needed if they are to push towards the top half this term.

Next up is a West Ham side that has mightily struggled so far, and after four defeats in five games across all competitions, Graham Potter is under rapidly building pressure to turn things around.

But this is no gimme for Palace, with Glasner reminding his side: “I think if somebody underestimates any opposition in the Premier League and in the regular league, you make the first mistake, and then you deserve to lose. If you underestimate your opposition, you don't bring the respect to them and then you deserve to lose. We never underestimate anyone.

“I think the lowest league we played was Doncaster, a League Two side, and we respected them. This is the same with West Ham: so many good players, fantastic manager, great stadium there. I don't see any issue. Just two weeks ago, 10 days ago, I don't know exactly, they won 3-0 at Nottingham Forest, after we drew against them. You could see the struggle against Tottenham with set-plays, but also they had a few good chances.

“It's a very good side, a very good Premier League side. Just see how quick football is. One-and-a-half years ago, they won the Conference League, after 40 years, whatever. We played them with [Eintracht] Frankfurt in the semi-finals of the Europa League. They were sixth or seventh at the end of the season, so football is sometimes really crazy. But it's a very good side, great manager with huge respect.

“We prepared very well in these three days, as good as we can. But we're looking forward to a great game on Saturday afternoon. Nice weather, players available, players are fit. We are in good shape, so then it will be a great Premier League game.”

Glasner also warned West Ham that this could be the perfect game for Jean-Philippe Mateta to hit his stride after a relatively slow start to the season. “I was showing a few clips today to the players [from our 2-0 win at West Ham in January],” added the Palace boss. “Graham Potter was already there, the style is similar. They mirrored us a little bit, so they played also in a 3-4-3, but now they've changed the last two games into a back four. We don't know exactly what they're doing tomorrow, but the way they are playing is very similar.

“JP was maybe on his peak of last season. Sometimes when you come back into an environment where you feel comfortable and have good memories, this helps to get back into your best shape, and that's what we also hope for him and encouraged him.

“You have a striker, maybe you have three or four games where you don't score, you miss a few chances, and then you have three or four games where… when he scored the first goal it wasn't the biggest chance, but he just scored and made a 40-yard run and then just took the right decision and kicked the ball into the bottom corner.”

Your next Crystal Palace read, Opta predicts West Ham vs Crystal Palace, Fulham vs Brentford results