An upbeat West Ham United will host a jubilant Everton at the London Stadium this week. Since moving to their new Stadium, the Hammers are having a tough time as it seems they have difficulties to adapt to their new home. Out of the 16 matches, they have played in this stadium they have managed to get the valuable three points on six occasions.
The season is coming to an end and Slaven Bilic needs to tighten things up. He knows that things won’t be that easy but a win in the remaining matches would help them move higher up on the table. They are three points adrift of Watford who sits comfortable in the tenth place and Bilic’s side has a good chance to finish the season on a respectable note.
Everton are unbeaten in the last three league matches including a 4-2 win over defending champions Leicester City. A Europa League spot is up for grabs after Manchester United’s EFL Cup win has made a place wide open and a win in this match would take them an edge closer to the European spot.
Team News And Predicted Lineups
West Ham United
Sam Byram got the marching orders in the last match which means we might see a return of Chiekhou Kouyate in the right back position. Bilic also will be without the service of influential midfielder Mark Noble and will have to shuffle his starting lineup a little bit. Havard Nordtveit is likely to take Noble’s place. Winston Reid is fit and might get a place on the bench.
Randolph; Kouyate, Fonte, Collins, Masuaku; Fernandes, Nordtveit; Snodgrass, Ayew; Lanzini; Carroll
Everton
There is unlikely to be any changes from last game with no fresh injury concerns.
Robles; Holgate, Jagielka, Williams, Baines; Gueye, Schneiderlin, Davies; Barkley, Lukaku, Mirallas
Key Players
West Ham United
Manuel Lanzini
Following the departure of Dimitri Payet, the club brought Robert Snodgrass from Hull City but he hasn’t been the perfect replacement for him. Manuel Lanzini has been the player to watch for West Ham. West Ham badly needs three points from this match although they are well placed in the 13th place. But as far as relegation is concerned Premier League is very unpredictable so they have to make it sure they remain on the right track and Lanzini needs to fire up to get the job done.
Everton
Romelu Lukaku
With 24 goals, Lukaku is topping the Premier League goals tally and any mistake from the Hammers will be punished by him. He has hit 12 goals in the last nine encounters and it would be interesting to see how he sums up after this match.
