If West Ham United are to get anything at high-flying Crystal Palace they will undoubtedly need Winston Reid on top form, but will he be ready for the game?
West Ham United’s Winston Reid
The Hammers are looking to kickstart their season after their worst ever start to a campaign.
Five defeats from their opening seven games and just four points from 21 available leaves Slaven Bilic’s side in the relegation zone going into the crucial London derby clash with Alan Pardew’s side at Selhurst Park.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Bilic is the bookies’ favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked and he knows the next couple of weeks are vital with Palace followed by a home match against fellow strugglers Sunderland.
A wave of injuries have blighted West Ham’s season so far and they need as many of their better players on the pitch as often as possible from here on in.
Kiwi defender Reid certainly falls into that category, but will the influential figure be ready to face Palace given that he only arrived back from in the country from America on Thursday night after playing two games for New Zealand, the second of which was on Wednesday.
Reid in action for New Zealand against USA
It was also the first time Reid has travelled to play for the All Whites in over 13 months.
What sort of condition he is in on his return to East London remains to be seen but Slaven Bilic admitted in his pre-match press conference that Reid will be the last one to report for duty 24 hours before the big match.
“Winston Reid is the latest one because they played in the States, he is back today and tomorrow we have a full team,” Bilic said in his press conference, as reported by whufc.com.
Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke
It sums up demands of modern day football that a player will fly halfway around the world to play a couple of matches and be needed for a crucial, unrelenting London derby less than 36 hours after landing back in the country.
For West Ham and Slaven Bilic’s sake they had better hope Reid doesn’t suffer any ill effects from the inevitable jet lag as Christian Benteke is bang in form.
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