David Moyes’ West Ham host Everton at London Stadium in a huge battle for Premier League survival.
Entering this match locked on 15 points apiece, victory would see either West Ham or Everton climb out of the relegation zone if results elsewhere swing in their favour.
A draw though would see West Ham climb out of the relegation zone if Bournemouth lose elsewhere.
Team News
Alphonse Areola could return for West Ham after recovering from a hip injury, which kept him out of their last two matches.
Danny Ings could make his debut for the Hammers after signing from Aston Villa on a two-and-a-half year contract.
Gianluca Scamacca (knee) and Maxwel Cornet (calf) remains absent.
Everton have no fresh injury concerns to report as Nathan Patterson (medial ligament), James Garner (back), Michael Keane and Andros Townsend (both knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Everton at London Stadium in an untelevised 3pm GMT kick-off on Saturday 21 January.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have won three of their last five meetings against Everton (W3, L2).
- Everton have won two of their last five visits to West Ham (W2, D1, L2).
- Four of last five meetings in this fixture have finished 1-0 with both teams winning twice apiece by that result.
- West Ham have conceded twice in each of their last three league matches at home (L3).
- Everton have kept just one clean sheet in nine away matches in Premier League this season, in which they drew 0-0 at Fulham in late October.
Prediction
Having sank into the relegation zone last weekend with defeat, West Ham now need to produce a reaction because they could of easily snatched a point at Wolves yet poor end product to solid attacks and a lapse in defending cost them.
Everton meanwhile had similar issues in their defeat against Southampton but failed to kick on after taking a first-half lead, which wasn’t helped by a toxic crowd atmosphere and a failure to handle the Saints’ second-half improvement in intensity.
Quality therefore doesn’t feel likely to be on the cards in a fixture which recently has been settled by a 1-0 result on four occasions, yet I do expect the Hammers to get a bounce from Ings’ arrival which could well be crucial if he features and makes an instant impact.
Prediction: West Ham 1-0 Everton
Result: West Ham 2-0 Everton
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