West Ham v Crystal Palace preview

The France worldwide midfielder “does not want to play” for the Hammers according to manager Slaven Bilic following a bid from his former club Marseille that was rejected.

Two players who definitely won’t feature are Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako, who are now representing their countries at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The club isn’t willing to sell the 29-year-old France worldwide who is their best player on the pitch.

The France global was rewarded with a bumper new £125,000-a-week deal by the Hammers a year ago for an excellent first season in the Premier League.

But Payet recently dropped a bombshell by refusing to train with the team in order to force a move to another club.

Payet reportedly wants to return to his native France, to play for the fabulously wealthy Marseilles FC, because he is “homesick”.

“‘I don’t think any player is bigger than the club“, Carroll told Sky Sports.

“To put all that behind us and work as a team has been fantastic“.

Payet shocked the Hammers last week by telling boss Slaven Bilic he wishes to bring his time in East London to an end.

“I’d say get rid of him, get £30m and drop him off”.

“And he added that if the club didn’t let him go he would never kick a ball for them again and would invent an injury”.

The Sam Allardyce Grand Tour continues with Palace as he faces another of his old clubs following the FA Cup draw at Bolton and his new employers have been extremely well supported in the betting to finally give him that first victory.

Olympique Marseille sent a proposal worth $24 million for the French striker, but West Ham United rejected that offer.

“It would be much, much better if this had not happened and that he had remained committed to West Ham, but that is not the case, so life goes on”.

To their credit, West Ham showed greater dash and dare after the interval, with Carroll ably supported by the improving trio of Lanzini, Michail Antonio, and Sofiane Feghouli. Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round’s Premier League fixtures in our Predictor game. He, however, has found life harder this season, caused, in part by West Ham’s struggles to maintain their great form from previous year.