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Crystal Palace will assess the fitness of key trio Yohan Cabaye, Mile Jedinak and Emmanuel Adebayor ahead of their trip to West Ham.
Without a league win since December 19, Palace have been dragged into a relegation battle, when previously it had seemed another top half finish was a near-certainty.
The Eagles are seven points clear of the relegation zone, but with eight games to go, that could all change very quickly.
The Hammers represent as tough a challenge as any at the moment, having won three of their last four in the league.
As result, Slaven Bilic's men have top four aspirations after a superb campaign, and with their star men firing on all cylinders, who would bet against the Olympic Stadium housing Champions League football next season?
Team news
West Ham boss Bilic will hope the recent international break has not taken its toll on his squad ahead.
Enner Valencia, Cheikhou Kouyate and Victor Moses all racked up the air miles and returned to training on Friday - but there is good news for Bilic as James Tomkins is fit following a calf problem.
The game comes too soon for fellow defenders Sam Byram - out since February with a muscular injury - and James Collins (hamstring), but both are progressing well.
Palace midfield duo Cabaye and Jedinak and striker Adebayor all returned from international duty carrying knocks.
Connor Wickham (adductor), James McArthur (ankle) and Marouane Chamakh (hip) are still recovering from injuries.
Opta stats
The last three Premier League meetings between West Ham and Crystal Palace have ended as 3-1 away wins.
The two sides have met nine times in the Premier League with both winning four and drawing one.
Crystal Palace sat 5th in the Premier League at the end of 2015. Since then they have dropped to 16th. They are the only side in the top four tiers yet to win in 2016.
Cabaye has scored three goals in his last two Premier League appearances against West Ham.
Since the start of last season, Dimitri Payet has created 221 chances, more than any other player in the top five European leagues in that time.
The Eagles have won just one of their six Premier League London derbies this season (W1 L5).
Wilfried Zaha has won more fouls than any other player this season (77).
The Hammers have conceded the highest proportion of top flight goals in the first half of matches this season (60%).
West Ham have scored the most goals in the top flight in the last 15 minutes of matches (14).
Crystal Palace have conceded the joint-most in this period (14 along with Newcastle).
Merson's prediction
West Ham are flying at the moment and Palace are on a slippery slope. I think the Hammers will win and move above Man City in the table.
Palace are seven points above the bottom three but they are not out of trouble. They just can't win at the moment and if they lose this then they will be looking nervously over their shoulders.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-1 ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.])
