West Ham are gearing to face Manchester United and Hammers News has spoken to a top Red Devils journalist to preview the game.
Every game seems to have a lot riding on it in the modern Premier League era.
But that’s no understatement when it comes to Sunday’s clash between West Ham and Man United at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui is once again under pressure in the wake of West Ham’s dismal 4-1 defeat at Spurs.
Manchester United had looked an improved side of late.
But another draw in Europe overnight leaves the Old Trafford side 21st in the 36-team table.
Man United also sit 12th in the Premier League after eight games, just three points above West Ham.
A two-goal win would actually see the Hammers go above Manchester United in the table.
Speculation is still rife that Erik ten Hag is facing the sack at the next sign of adversity.
Ex West Ham assistant coach Edin Terzic is said to be of interest to both them and Manchester United.
As a result, many are dubbing the Hammers’ match against the Red Devils ‘El Sackico’.
West Ham fans are far from happy with what they’ve seen under Lopetegui to this point.
Manchester United fans expect much better from their team too.
But how are the Hammers and this game being viewed on the other side.
Hammers News has spoken to top Man United journalist and expert Dan Coombs for the opposition view ahead of match.
Coombs heads up the Manchester United site United in Focus.
And he says West Ham remind him of Man United for all the wrong reasons.
The Man United journalist and fan feels both clubs have got the striker situation badly wrong.
Coombs also isn’t confident things will work out for either Ten Hag or Lopetgui.
What are your expectations for Man United this season and what do you think West Ham can do?
Heading into this season my hopes were for Manchester United to comfortably secure a top four finish, and win a domestic cup. Who knows about the cups, it’s too early, but the Premier League is already going to be a slog. We needed a good start and have not had one at all. 12th place is poor so far – although still only five points back from fourth, so we can get back into the mix.
From the outside I had expected West Ham to do well this season, it was an impressive transfer window. But it’s proving true what they say, that you have to build a team, you cannot buy one. You have obviously have a poor start but you are only three points behind us. A top 10 finish is still very achievable.
Are you happy with the the manager, how do you see that panning out?
I wanted Ten Hag to stay in the summer, and stick by the argument that was the right move at the time. You cannot keep ripping it up and starting again, especially after a manager has just secured trophies in back to back years. Last season’s league performances were poor, but the hope was this was a freak season due to injuries. We are seeing this season that the problems are more deep-set.
I will be guided by results in terms of stance on Ten Hag. If we are still outside the top 10 in December, I think a change will be inevitable. We are only a couple of games away from a crisis so it could take a sharp turn for the worse.
Who are your key / in-form players right now?
Nobody has really shown any consistency this season apart from Alejandro Garnacho, and in goal Andre Onana. Bruno Fernandes has been out of form and that’s been one of the problems, he has not scored all season.
Your Achilles heel?
Scoring goals has been the biggest problem. We have failed to net in four of our last six Premier League games. In eight games this season we have scored only seven goals – and three of those came against Southampton. It’s been really poor. Last week’s goals against Brentford were our first league goals at Old Trafford since the opening day. Rasmus Hojlund’s injury did not help, he’s back and scored at the weekend, so we’ll see if he can go on a run.
If you could have any West Ham player in your team who would you choose and why?
You may laugh, but the obvious answer here is Emerson. He’s fit, and he’s a left-back. Our two left-backs Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia have not been fit enough to play a single minute all season.
I should give a nod to Wan-Bissaka too.
What is your perception of West Ham this season
It’s tough, it looks like all the pieces are there. Lopetegui is a good manager, and your brought in some good players in the summer, Kilman, Wan-Bissaka, while keeping key players like Kudus, Paqueta and Bowen. But its clear the Fullkrug signing has not worked out, and that position has been a problem for a while.
Similar to us, I’m not sure why clubs go ‘all in’ on one striker and don’t take multiple shots on bringing in a few, eg, grab the top scorer in the Belgian league on a cheap deal as well, adding depth, and just giving yourself more chance that one works out.
In terms of what happens next for West Ham, I do worry you end up having to make a change in manager. Like with us, you can be patient – but there has to be a cut-off point where you accept it simply is not working, and is more damaging to stick than twist.
Likely Man United starting XI for the game?
I’m writing this before the Fenerbahce game so at risk of some injury news throwing this off. But as it stands…
Onana; Dalot, De Ligt, Martinez, Mazraoui; Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes, Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund
Score prediction?
When this fixture was revealed to be days after the away trip to Fenerbahce game in Turkey I wrote it off as a loss. It’s unfortunate scheduling for us, play in Turkey Thursday night, fly back to Manchester then travel back down to London for game on Sunday.
That said, I see a few signs it might work out for us. West Ham are under pressure, Kudus is suspended, and the players have rallied around Ten Hag since rumours over his job intensified. I think we can sneak a 1-0 win.
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