The State of Play
To many supporters’ frustration, West Ham United went into their EFL Cup quarter-final against Liverpool in midweek without key men Kurt Zouma, James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paqueta. The Hammers were thrashed by five goals to one but have remained in strong form in both the Premier League and UEFA Europa League as David Moyes pragmatically weighs up the best route to having a successful campaign.
Prior to that annihilation at Anfield, The Irons had suffered just one defeat in nine matches across all competitions as they close the gap on the top seven places and the European spots.
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Their comfortable and impressive 3-0 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend helped them close the gap to just one point off the aforementioned top seven and the team in seventh is their upcoming opponent this weekend, Manchester United.
Seemingly always in crisis, Manchester United did manage to stop the rot a little with their valiant but still toothless goalless draw against rivals Liverpool last weekend. The Red Devils have been underwhelming to say the least throughout the campaign – even in victory.
In 25 matches across all competitions so far this season, the storied and historic institution have managed just 11 wins. Nine of those wins have come by a solitary goal with many of those requiring a late winner or a dramatic turnaround in the game.
Ahead of this weekend’s round of fixtures, they have managed just one win against teams that are in the top-half of the table with that victory coming, once again, by a one-goal margin against a Chelsea side that have only just squeezed themselves back into the top ten ahead of this match day. With only 18 goals scored only the current bottom four teams in the league (Nottingham Forest, Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United) have scored fewer than United.
Team News
David Moyes has been fortunate in recent times with one of the shorter injury lists in the Premier League. In fact, he has only one confirmed absentee for this weekend with Michail Antonio still suffering from a hamstring issue. Both Nayef Ageurd and Maxwel Cornet are doubts for this weekend with illness.
As one Portuguese international returns from suspension with captain Bruno Fernandes back available, another will be absent with Diogo Dalot serving a one-match ban for his late red card against Liverpool.
Christian Eriksen may return for Erik ten Hag’s men but the visitors remain without several key players for this one such as Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro.
Expected Line-ups
West Ham: Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Kehrer, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Bowen
Manchester United: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Evans, Varane, Shaw; McTominay, Amrabat; Antony, Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund
What they Said
Moyes on West Ham’s aims:
“We’re fighting hard to stick around the position we’re in, we want to get European football for a fourth straight season. Our home form will be important to that and we want to get a result on Saturday.”
Ten Hag on having a midweek off:
“First of all, we had such a busy programme. The lads had some days off ahead of another busy week. They needed the rest physically, to get away from football, mentally. We can go in the week, a great opportunity for us.”
When and How to Watch
The game at the London Stadium will kick off at 12:30 on Saturday and will be shown live on TNT Sports.
‘We have some doubts; we have some illnesses during the week, so we have to see who is available for tomorrow,’ said Ten Hag. ‘Hopefully, they are recovered, but we have to see.’
‘[Martinez and Casemiro] are not available before Christmas. Mid-January, we…
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) December 22, 2023
Prediction
The hosts will leapfrog their opponents in the Premier League table with a victory and they will be very confident of doing so. United have shown major frailties against every team they have played this season and heading down to London to face a team with genuine quality all over the pitch means they are likely to struggle again.
Expecting a West Ham victory against Manchester United, especially with their home advantage, is no longer a long shot and appears fairly likely.
