Roy Hodgson has been impressed by West Ham's recent form and knows Crystal Palace will have their work cut out on Wednesday.
Palace visit London Stadium to face the Hammers, who have won four of their past five matches to sit sixth in the table heading into this round of fixtures.
Hodgson's side could move level on points with their opponents with a win but face a tough ask.
"They've won four of their past five games, which is a fantastic thing to be able to do in the Premier League, wherever you find yourself in the table," Hodgson said.
"They've signed some good players, they've got a good nucleus of a team which has been together for a while.
"They're looking like very strong contenders for a place certainly in the top half of the table, and maybe David Moyes will be punting for something greater than that."
He added: "I think they are extremely solid in every area of the game and, at the moment, I think we're meeting one of the form teams in the league."
West Ham manager David Moyes feels the hosts are now being rewarded for a consistent level of performance.
"The performances always lead to good results," Moyes said.
"We've had some very good performances, some not so good, and when they're not so good, we need to be resolute to get results.
"You have to say we're looking like we can score goals and we've done that without our talisman Michail Antonio.
"It's important to get him back, but we need to keep building something with the performances, too."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham - Aaron Cresswell
So much of West Ham's threat comes from set-pieces, including both goals against Leeds United - the second of which came from a Cresswell free-kick. The left-back has created the most chances (22), provided the most assists (four), made the most successful crosses (27) and played the most passes into the box (74) of any West Ham player in the league this season.
Crystal Palace - Jordan Ayew
Ayew has lost his place for Palace's past two matches, but he provides a handy option for Hodgson. Against no side has the striker scored more Premier League goals than versus West Ham (four), including the winning goals in each game last season.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- Palace came from behind to win both Premier League meetings with West Ham last season. They have never won three consecutive league games against the Hammers before.
- West Ham have not lost back-to-back home league games since December 2019 under Manuel Pellegrini; the Hammers have never done so under current boss Moyes in 30 matches at London Stadium.
- Palace are looking to win consecutive away London derbies in the Premier League for the first time since November 1997, when they won three in a row against QPR, Wimbledon and Spurs.
- In their previous away Premier League match at West Brom, Crystal Palace hit five goals - as many as in their prior nine on the road combined. Even with just one league game played in December 2020, five away goals are Palace's most in a calendar month since January 2019 when they scored six.
- Moyes has won 60 per cent of his Premier League matches against Hodgson (P10 W6 D1 L3), his best ratio against any of the 15 managers he has faced at least 10 times in the competition.
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