Sheffield United look to rebound from a humilating Premier League loss with an away trip to West Ham at London Stadium.
Victory would see West Ham climb to sixth if Aston Villa lose in the lunchtime kick-off, whilst Sheffield Utd can move off the foot of the table with a win but will stay in the relegation zone unless Bournemouth, Burnley and Luton all lose elsewhere with a goal swing in their favour.
Team News
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report after their Carabao Cup win at Lincoln City in midweek, with Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez and Jarrod Bowen amongst regulars looking to return to the starting line-up.
Aaron Cresswell (hamstring) remains absent.
Sheffield Utd could be without Gustavo Hamer as he recovers from a knock despite having played in their defeat to Newcastle last weekend.
Oli McBurni is available after serving his one-match suspension.
George Baldock (calf), William Osula (muscle), Rhys Norrington-Davies, Rhian Brewster (both hamstring), Max Lowe (ankle), John Fleck (leg), Ben Osborn (groin) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) are sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Sheffield Utd in a 3pm BST kick-off at London Stadium on Saturday 30 September, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are unbeaten in four of their last six league meetings against Sheffield Utd (W3, D1, L2).
- Sheffield Utd are winless in their two previous visits to the London Stadium (D1, L1).
- None of West Ham’s last five goalscorers against Sheffield Utd remain at the London Stadium (Robert Snodgrass, Sebastien Haller, Declan Rica, Issa Diop and Ryan Fredericks).
- Four of West Ham’s last five league games have ended in a 3-1 result with the Hammers winning and losing two of those games apiece.
- Sheffield Utd have lost each of their two away matches this season by a 2-1 result, with both of their goals scored by Gustavo Hamer at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham respectively.
Prediction
After their 3-1 loss at Liverpool last weekend, West Ham certainly delivered a resilient job to snatch a clinical win at Lincoln City in midweek with 11 changes, but I do expect them to be back to their attacking best with Bowen and Michail Antonio amongst returnees.
After their humilating 8-0 defeat at home to Newcastle where their defence simply fell apart at the seams with little passion or desire to fight back aside from Hamer, Sheffield Utd need to reset and show more quality on the attack whilst performing solid defensively.
West Ham though should definitely pull off the win if their rested players can quickly settle back into the team and press the Blades’ defence hard, because the visitors needs a wholesale improvement quickly otherwise this could be another tough afternoon.
Prediction: West Ham 2-0 Sheffield United
Result: West Ham 2-0 Sheffield United
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