Crystal Palace are a team in deep trouble. Sitting at the rock bottom of the English Premier League, the Palace team look well on their way down to the Championships. Frank De Boer was sacked after the club was left winless for over 6 games and Roy Hodgson since his arrival has done only slightly better by collecting 5 points in games. His team sit at the bottom on 5 points, 3 points away from the 19th placed Swansea City and 5 points off the safety zone.
The Palace players have been inconsistent and unimpressive, to say the least. Missing Christian Benteke is not the only reason for the club suffering this season. Their midfield leaders Yohan Cabaye and James McArthur have been poor and naturally despite having some fast attackers like Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend in the side there has not been enough supply of balls for them to play with.
So Roy Hodgson is preparing to rival David Moyes at West Ham United who is already planning to reshuffle the pack at London to his whims and fancies. They have identified Harry Arter of Bournemouth as an ideal addition their respective teams. And the Hammers boss has been given the backing of the board to go ahead with the transfer dealing of any player as long as the board can sanction the money.
The report of Harry Arter will be an interesting choice and perhaps the most likely of the midfield lot. Arter, known for his aggressive nature of football is a midfield warrior, something any Premier League club needs. He has a battery that can run for the full length of the match and the Irish international never shies away from a tackle.
What Palace are lacking in at the moment is a defensive midfielder who will win tackles in the middle of the park for them and turn over possession quickly enough for the Palace frontline without them losing momentum everytime an attack fails.
In such a position, Arter would be the perfect foil for the forward players as he would sit deep and create the base the Hammers lack now. However, whether Eddie Howe would be willing to sell Arter, who is an important member of the Bournemouth set-up right now, remains to be seen.
To complicate matters further, Arter owes a lot to Howe who unearthed the midfielder from the non-League working and has been with Howe for their rise through all four divisions. And finally, the nail in the coffin could be the fact that Arter signed an improved four-year contract at the club this June.
