West Ham face a tricky test of their promotion credentials against Wrexham in a huge Championship clash.
Victory will lift West Ham onto the summit of the Championship table until at least Saturday afternoon, whilst Wrexham can go sixth with a win.
Team News
Valentin Castellanos is unlikely to feature for West Ham after he missed their 3-2 midweek win at Bolton due to a hamstring injury.
Alphonse Areola was also absent due to a dead leg and it’s unclear if he will be fit enough for selection.
Tomas Soucek remains sidelined with an ankle injury.
Wrexham will be without defender, Max Cleworth after he suffered a hamstring injury during their 1-1 draw against Burnley, which has ruled him out for eight weeks.
Josh Windass (knock) and Ben Sheaf (fitness) are set to be available.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Wrexham at the London Stadium on Friday 11 September at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football in the UK.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are unbeaten in six previous league meetings against Wrexham (W2, D2, L2).
- Wrexham are making their first visit to the London Stadium, but have are winless in three previous away league trips to the Hammers at their former home – Upton Park (D1, L2).
- Jarrod Bowen has been involved in five of West Ham’s 14 league goals in their first six matches – having produced three goals and two assists in six appearances.
- Wrexham have won just one of their opening six league games this season (W1, D4, L1).
Prediction
Despite claiming 10 points in their last four league matches, West Ham’s defensive vulnerability is never too far as evidenced by how they threw away their early lead at Bolton, yet they dug in and produced a clinical comeback win which shows their attacking end product quality.
Wrexham meanwhile have drawn four of their six opening games which shows the grit and never say die attitude of this team, but they ideally need to start winning now if want to challenge for automatic promotion soon especially after a tightly-fought draw against Burnley.
Both teams though have kept just three clean sheets between them so I expect this to be quite a competitive game but if West Ham’s attack continues to deliver, I can see them nicking a late win.
Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Wrexham
Result: West Ham 6-0 Wrexham