Manchester United will hope to continue their 5-match winning streak as they roll up to the London Stadium to face a West Ham side who suffered their first defeat in quite a while. Jose Mourinho seems to have got his bearing after a jittery start to life at Old Trafford. The pieces are starting to fall together and although the win against Middlesbrough was hard fought, the manner of the win was satisfying, to say the least. The fans believe that ‘Jose time’ is here and they will be starting the New Year confidently and will be gunning for a victory against the Hammers.
West Ham would have been gutted to have lost against struggling Champions, Leicester City after a run of 4 games in which they won thrice and drew once. The loss comes just before an extremely tough fixture against Manchester United and as the home team, they will be under pressure to deliver.
TRIVIA
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last four Premier League meetings with Manchester United (W1 D3) – they’ve never gone five games unbeaten them in their English league history.
- Manchester United lost away at West Ham last season, in the last ever game at the Boleyn Ground – they’ve not lost consecutive away games against West Ham since December 2007.
- Slaven Bilic could become only the second manager to remain unbeaten in his first four Premier League encounters with the Red Devils (Ruud Gullit the other).
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored three goals in Manchester United’s two previous encounters with West Ham this season (One in Premier League, Two in EFL Cup).
- Anthony Martial has scored five goals in his last four appearances against West Ham in all competitions.
- West Ham have won consecutive Premier League games at the London Stadium for the first time. They last won three home matches in a row in March 2016.
- The Red Devils are unbeaten in their last four on the road (W3 D1); they haven’t gone five unbeaten in the Premier League since February 2015 (seven games).
- Manchester United last won three consecutive Premier League away games in April 2014, when they enjoyed four successive victories – a run that also included a win over West Ham.
TEAM NEWS & PREDICTED LINE-UPS
WEST HAM UNITED (4-2-3-1)
West Ham captain Mark Noble will be assessed after he took a blow to his knee against Leicester.
Alvaro Arbeloa, Arthur Masuaku, Diafra Sakho and Gokhan Tore remain out.
Randolph; Nordtveit; Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Obiang, Kouyate; Antonio, Ayew, Payet; Carroll
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3)
Manager Jose Mourinho says Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney have a chance of being involved after missing the New Year’s Eve win over Middlesbrough.
Rooney has been out with a thigh problem, while Carrick has been ill.
De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Darmian; Carrick, Herrera, Pogba; Mkhitaryan, Lingard; Ibrahimovic
BETTING ODDS
Manchester United- 8/13
West Ham- 9/2
Draw- 31/10
TRIVIA COURTESY- OPTA
