Although we only previewed one Premier London derby (PLDs) match in the F.A. Premier League (FAPL) last week two were played. On Sunday 13 December 2020 Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 at Selhurst Park in front of a 2,000 Covid-19 rationed crowd delighted with their team’s performance and particularly that of their goalkeeper Vincente Guaita. He may have been deceived by the flight of Spurs’ Harry Kane’s speculative 35 yards shot to give the visitors the lead on 35 minutes, but after that he made at least 5 goal-saving stops to frustrate them. At the other end Hugo Lloris might be blamed for the Eagles’ equalizer when he spilled the ever-improving Eberichi Eze’s free kick to Jeffery Schlupp on 81 minutes. Man of the Match Guaita had the last word when he pushed Eric Dier’s goal-bound free kick out of the right top corner.
The second PLDs match was midweek on Wednesday 16 December 2020 at the London Stadium where West Ham United and again Crystal Palace drew 1-1. For the Eagles Christian Benteke was first hero, opening the scoring with a diving header from Joel Ward’scross in the 34th minute, and then pantomime villain being sent off for 2 yellows received for elbowing Hammers’ Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna in their faces. West Ham United’sSebastian Haller equalized on 55 minutes with the sort of spectacular over-head kick from Vladimir Coufal’s cross which automatically wins goal of the month at least. Our congratulations also go to Crystal Palace Manager Roy Hodgson for whom this was his 50thLondon derby in the FAPL.
The PLDs continue to come thick and fast with the next being Chelsea v West Ham United, again in the frame, on Monday 21 December 2020. Last season the Hammers did the double over the Blues, and those 6 points helped keep them in the FAPL. Previous seasons’ scores have been: 2-1 season 2016-17; 1-1 season 2017-18; 2-0 season 2018-19; and 0-1 season 2019-20. Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from 2 consecutive FAPL defeats and WestHam United are playing with skill and confidence, so a pre-Christmas treat is in store!
Until next time, whichever Tier you are now in “Keep Safe”, Andrew at PLDs.