West Ham approaches the upcoming match of the 18th round in the ninth position in the league table. A victory today will allow the “Hammers” to climb at least two positions, given the density in this part of the ranking. In November and December, the team faced a challenging schedule, playing in the Europa League, League Cup, and the Premier League. Overall, they managed to navigate this stretch successfully, with only two setbacks. There was a crushing away defeat to “Fulham” with a score of 1-5 in the Premier League. They also failed to compete with “Liverpool” away in the League Cup (1-5). On their home turf, “West Ham” has not suffered a defeat in six consecutive matches, winning five of them, considering all competitions. In the previous Premier League round, they secured a confident 3-0 victory over “Wolverhampton.” There are no significant squad issues, except for the injured Antonio, who won’t be able to play.
In the last round, “Manchester United” managed to secure points away against “Liverpool” (0-0). However, the team looked unconvincing and barely kept their goal intact. Throughout the game, the “Red Devils” managed only one shot on target, while the opponent recorded 34 shots, eight of which were on target. Before this encounter, Erik ten Hag’s team suffered defeats in the Premier League against “Bournemouth” (0-3) and in the Champions League against “Bayern Munich” (0-1). In the league table, “Manchester United” sits in seventh place with 28 points. The squad still has many injured players. Additionally, Dalot, who was sent off in the game against “Liverpool,” won’t take the field today. The club’s management is exploring options to strengthen the squad, and there have been reports of interest in Everton’s midfielder, Onana.