2022-23 Premier League: Week 37 – West Ham vs Leeds United

Sam Allardyce’s Leeds United continue to fight for Premier League survival in a tough trip to West Ham at London Stadium.

Victory would see West Ham climb to 14th in the table, whilst Leeds can climb out of the relegation zone with a win.

 

Team News

(Image credit: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

West Ham manager, David Moyes could rotate his squad following their Europa Conference League win at AZ Alkmaar, with Lukasz Fabianski (pictured), Vladimir Coufal and Maxwel Cornet amongst players looking to start.

Striker, Gianluca Scamacca remains absent with a knee injury.

Leeds will be without defender, Junior Firpo who is suspended after his red card in last weekend’s 2-2 draw against Newcastle.

Liam Cooper (muscle) and Marc Roca (knee) could both return but Luis Sinisterra (ankle), Tyler Adams (hamstring) and Stuart Dallas (thigh) remain absent.

 

When is Kick-Off?

West Ham host Leeds at London Stadium in a 1:30pm BST kick-off on Sunday 21 May, live on Sky Sports in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

  • West Ham have avoided defeat in four of their last five league meetings against Leeds (W3, D1, L1).
  • Leeds have lost just one of their last five league visits to West Ham (W2, D2, L1).
  • Both teams have scored in four of their last five league meetings, except for a 2-0 home win for West Ham in March 2021.
  • West Ham have scored in each of their last nine league matches at home (W4, D3, L2).
  • Leeds have failed to score first in each of their last four away games (L4).

 

Prediction

Following their clinical European exploits at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening and league safety now assured, West Ham can afford to relax a bit with one eye on preparations for their Europa Conference League Final in two-and-a-half weeks time in Prague, Czech Republic.

This game however is the last match at home of this season for Moyes’ Hammers so I do hope that they’ve quickly settled and are focused on giving the home faithful a positive celebration in East London, whilst building momentum across their final two league games heading to Prague.

Leeds meanwhile know that a win would see them put survival into their own hands heading into the final day, which is achievable if they can play with the same attacking quality which saw them snatch a 2-2 draw against Newcastle last weekend.

Poor defensive work against Newcastle however could of easily cost them that vital point but they did look more solid at the back at times than in recent weeks, aside from Firpo who was just lacklustre so hopefully Pascal Struijk will provide more quality at left-back.

Much of this match ultimately could depend on West Ham’s mentality because if they’re on the beach with focus on their upcoming European final, I would fancy Leeds to win if they get on the front foot and control this game otherwise this could be a close result.

Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Leeds

Result: West Ham 3-1 Leeds

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