West Ham United welcome Sheffield United to the London Stadium in the first of a Monday Night Football double-bill.
Victory will see West Ham climb to fifth for at least a few hours whereas Sheffield Utd can move off the foot of the table with victory.
Team News
Jesse Lingard is available for West Ham after missing their FA Cup exit at Manchester United through ineligibility, due to the terms of his loan deal preventing him from featuring against his parent club.
Michail Antonio (fatigue) is also set to return after being rested at Old Trafford, whilst Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena are set to be in contention too after Diop escaped a concussion and Balbuena suffered a calf strain in warm-up.
Angelo Ogbonna (ankle), Andriy Yarmolenko, Arthur Masuaku (both knee) and Darren Randolph (knee) are ruled out.
Sheffield United could have Enda Stevens back after a knock kept the defender sidelined in recent weeks.
George Baldock (thigh) is also expected to be in contention but Sander Berge (hamstring), Jack Robinson (unspecified) and Jack O’Connell (knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have won two of their last five Premier League meetings against Sheffield United (W2, D1, L2)
- Sheffield Utd are unbeaten in five of their last six league trips to West Ham (W1, D4, L1).
- Just one of last four goals in this fixture failed to come from a striker, with Robert Snodgrass putting West Ham ahead in an eventual 1-1 draw in October 2019.
- John Egan is the only Sheffield Utd player to have made a last man tackle in the Premier League this season.
- Michail Antonio has been caught offside more times than any other West Ham player this season, having found himself ruled offside on 11 occasions in 15 league appearances.
Prediction
West Ham will certainly be keen to rediscover their spark quickly after decent but fairly toothless efforts in their last two matches, because the end product simply hasn’t been there for the Hammers at Fulham nor Manchester United despite strong defensive performances in both games.
Sheffield Utd meanwhile just continue to find more confidence with each game and were unlucky to not get a point at home to Chelsea last weekend, yet were able to bounce back with a dominant FA Cup win over Bristol City.
Now if they can carry that momentum forward and find that first goal here, I can see them getting the win but David Moyes’ Hammers are a tough team to beat, making a draw a strong bet.
Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Sheffield United
Result: West Ham 3-0 Sheffield United
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