West Ham United

This week West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui said his side "were disappointed" with their heavy 5-2 loss to Arsenal at the weekend but stressed that that match "is in the past".

He said Leicester "will be very tough and demanding" opponents and added "I am sure we need to show our best version to compete there."

On facing a new opponent in Ruud van Nistelrooy he said: "He is a very good manager - he has shown that before and has done well in the Premier League.

"One of the difficulties when you face a new manager is that you don't really know what he's going to do."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Alex Pewter, FYP podcast

Ahead of a crunch game against struggling Ipswich, Oliver Glasner's team cannot afford to continue this trend. The pair of draws to open this run of winter fixtures have been positive, with the psychological bonus of exiting the relegation zone. Still, the team must muster some clinical finishing in tight matches to overturn their luck.

Game-by-game statistics are ultimately just snapshots, and overall trends are more important. As Glasner alluded to after the Newcastle match, the points will come if the team continues to play in this fashion.

Click to read more

Chris Sutton
Former Premier League striker

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests. For week 14 he takes on James Ryan, bassist with rock band The Slow Readers Club and a Manchester United fan.

Sutton: "I watched Ipswich on Saturday and thought they played well. They were hard done by for the award of the penalty which Nottingham Forest scored their winner from.

"Crystal Palace did get something out from their game with Newcastle - Daniel Munoz missed an unbelievable chance but made amends with his header right at the end.

"I look through the Palace team and think they are too good to go down, but they have to start showing it. These two sides have identical records, with only one win apiece from their first 13 league games.

"They are both desperate for another win, so the obvious thing for me to do is call it a draw."

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

James' prediction: "They are level on points but it feels like Ipswich are playing all right, while Palace are struggling. 2-1."

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live are on hand with live commentaries from both of tonight's Premier League games.

Tune in from 19:00 GMT for build up and full commentary from former Premier League keeper Mark Schwarzer at Portman Road.

Then stay tuned as former England number one Paul Robinson and the team bring commentary of the second half at King Power Stadium (the first half is on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra).

Listening options can be found at the top of this live page.

This week Ruud van Nistelrooy said he was "astonished" by the amount of interest in him after his brief spell as United boss.

Leicester moved quickly to bring in the 48-year-old after sacking Cooper on 24 November and Van Nistelrooy said he had other options.

"I have to say there were offers there and possibilities. It's good to have them and look and be critical on where you're going to work," said the Dutchman.

"What happened after the games and the amount of interest, the options that all of a sudden were there for me and the options that came along, I was a little bit astonished.

"I went into conversations with Leicester because I thought, having spoken to other people, it was a great opportunity to get to know each other.

"It was a good feeling and in the end both parties felt it. That was a good reason to start working together."

James Jones
We Are West Ham podcast

A few days is a long time in football.

On Monday night there was a glimmer of hope that things might be improving after West Ham went to St. James' Park and deservedly came back with all three points.

But by Saturday night it felt like we were back to square one and questioning Julen Lopetegui's ability to turn things around.

I wrote last week that all we wanted to see after the Newcastle win was a similar performance against Arsenal. There was no expectation we would win, but there was an expectation that the performance would continue to show progress.

Conceding five goals at home suggested there are still so many issues that need to be fixed. The quality of the opposition is irrelevant. For much of the past four years, we were very difficult to beat, even against so-called 'top six' sides.

But this season we have shipped five goals twice and look so fragile defensively that it is a mystery we have not conceded more.

The win against Newcastle will have saved Lopetegui's job in the short term. He will have the next few games to prove to everyone that the Arsenal defeat, and the manner of it, was just another blip in his long term vision.

To earn any trust that he has a future in east London, he simply has to ensure we go to Leicester on Tuesday night and win.

Saturday was more about the performance and not the result. Tuesday is all about both.

No excuses.

Find more from James Jones at We Are West Ham, external

Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna said: "Palace have a lot of top players, are picking up some form and we fully respect them. But it's about us trying to deliver a performance we can get behind.

"We'll approach it with a positive mindset like we do every home game. We'll try and start fast and score early. We believe we've got the qualities to go and win the game.

"If you'd told me this is where we'd be in December, I think most would have been pretty pleased with that. We know we've got another step to make now in winning games more regularly."

Ipswich have not won a home league match this season and McKenna said it would be "brilliant" when they achieve that. He added: "We know it will come and we want it to come as soon as possible. In all of our draws at home we feel we could have won. We've got two chances to do that this week."

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner said: “I don’t think it’s a six-pointer, but it’s an important game. But every single game is important. We will play against a team who has the same amount of points like we have. We want to take the three points.

“I think this is how they will enter the game, and we will do the same."

The Austrian admitted Palace “are not pleased with the points we have” but feels his men are improving “step-by-step” ahead of a congested few weeks of fixtures.

He added: “We are prepared. We are looking forward to it. It’s very positive that injured players are coming back."

Image source, Getty Images

As ever we want to hear your thoughts this evening.

Are both of tonight's games relegation six pointers? Can Ipswich finally get that first home win? How will Ruud van Nistelrooy fare in his first game in charge at Leicester?

Get in touch via the means listed above and please leave your name at the end of your message.

Chris Sutton
Former Premier League striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

Would Ruud Van Nistelrooy have been in the frame for the Leicester City job over the summer? I don't think so. But then Manchester United beat them twice and Leicester must have thought this guy is an absolute guru, we better get him in!

It's great timing as well. He played it perfectly. He realised Leicester had Brentford away at the weekend and they were going to get walloped. So he flew in and watched the game from the stands.

But now the work has got started. He has one hell of a job to keep Leicester in the Premier League.

Image source, Getty Images

It's Ruud van Nistelrooy's first match as Leicester City manager tonight.

The Dutchman replaced Steve Cooper on Friday, who was sacked after just 12 Premier League matches in charge of the Foxes.

Van Nistelrooy has signed a contract until June 2027 at the King Power Stadium.

His appointment comes two weeks after he left his role as interim head coach at Manchester United following Ruben Amorim's arrival.

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich got their first league win of the season on 10 November with a shock 2-1 success at Tottenham.

But the home fans have had to wait a bit longer to celebrate three Premier League points at Portman Road.

Indeed, you have to go all the way back to Wednesday, 24 April, 2002 for an Ipswich home win in the top flight.

Substitute Darren Bent, aged only 18, got the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, before Town were relegated the following month.

We're only interested in the bottom half of the Premier League table tonight. Ipswich Town will move out of the bottom three and Crystal Palace will drop into it if the hosts win at Portman Road.

An Ipswich-Palace draw could see Leicester end the day in the relegation zone, if The Foxes lose at home to West Ham.

December is always an extremely frantic month in the Premier League - and these are the matches we have to look forward to over the next three days.

Alex Howell
BBC football news reporter at Portman Road

Kieran McKenna makes four changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.

Ipswich Starting XI: Muric, Clarke, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis, Morsy, Cajuste, Clarke, Burns, Hutchinson, Delap,

Subs: Walton, Philips, Chaplin, Taylor, Al-Hamadi, Johnson, Twonsend, Szmodics, Broadhead

One change for the Eagles as Cheick Doucoure comes in for Jefferson Lerma.

Crystal Palace starting XI: Henderson, Munoz, Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Hughes, Doucoure, Sarr, Eze, Mateta,

Subs: Turner, Ward, Lerma, Nketiah, Schlupp, Clyne, Richards, Devenny, Kporha

Good evening and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the matches between Ipswich Town v Crystal Palace and Leicester v West Ham.

You will be able to follow live text and radio commentary of both games in this very page.

The Ipswich v Palace one (19:30 GMT kick-off) is live on BBC Radio 5 Live, while the first half of Leicester v West Ham (20:15 GMT) is on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with the second half on BBC Radio 5 Live.

It's a big day of football at the foot of the Premier League table, with four of the bottom seven in action.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will be hoping to make an instant impact as Leicester boss at home against West Ham, while the loser of the match between Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace will end the night in the relegation zone.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images