West Ham continue their fight for a top four finish as David Moyes’ Hammers welcome relegation battling Watford to London Stadium.
Victory would see West Ham return to fourth if Manchester United lose elsewhere, whereas Watford can climb out of the relegation zone with at least one point for a minimum of 24 hours.
Team News
Lukasz Fabianski could return for West Ham after missing their last two matches due to illness and squad rotation respectively.
Michail Antonio (fitness) is also set to be in contention after returning late from international duty, which forced him to sit out Saturday’s comeback FA Cup win at Kidderminster Harriers.
Kurt Zouma (knee) is likely to be rested alongside other players as David Moyes rotates his squad but Angelo Ogbonna (knee) remains absent.
Manuel Lanzini and Arthur Masuaku (knee) are also absent.
Watford could welcome Emmanuel Dennis back into contention following completion of his one match ban in their goalless draw at Burnley on Saturday.
Peter Etebo (quad) is could also feature but Kwadwo Baah (ankle), Nicolas N’Koulou (hamstring) and Ismaila Sarr (fitness) are absent.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have lost just one of their last six meetings against Watford (W5, L1).
- Watford have won two of four previous visits to the London Stadium (W2, L2).
- West Ham’s Tomas Soucek has scored in each of his two previous appearances against Watford.
- No West Ham player has been utilised as a Premier League substitute on more occasions this season than Andriy Yarmolenko, with the Ukrainian coming on from the bench on 11 occasions.
- Watford are looking to keep consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since October 2018.
Prediction
West Ham certainly will be relieved to be back on a more typical pitch after struggling badly on Kidderminster’s non-league pitch on Saturday, which was evident in their difficulty in breaking down a compact defence.
Fitness though will be an issue for the Hammers after needing extra-time on Saturday which surely is bound to have drained them of energy, especially given how frustrated their attack were whilst their defence struggled badly with the playing surface.
Watford meanwhile will be relieved to have kept a clean sheet at Burnley on Saturday which is a small forward step because they now need to show more attack, whilst continuing their tighter defensive play so this will be another game of learning under Roy Hodgson.
I am therefore hoping that we see a good game here but if West Ham can settle quickly back into their conventional playing surface, I fancy them to edge this if they’re clinical enough but Watford should look to squeeze a goal at minimum here.
Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Watford
Result: West Ham 1-0 Watford