quinta-feira, 10 de maio de 2018

PREVIEW: WEST HAM V MANCHESTER UNITED

West Ham v Manchester United preview: Alexis Sanchez fit to return

West Ham United v Manchester United is live on Sky Sports on Thursday

Alexis Sanchez will be available to return for Manchester United when they travel to West Ham on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.

Sanchez missed the 1-0 defeat at Brighton on Friday after suffering a minor knock in training.

However, he is in contention to return at the London Stadium as United look to gather some momentum ahead of the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 19.

United have lost two of their last four league games and Gary Neville described their performance against Brighton as a "shocker".

Jose Mourinho is keen to see a response from his side as they try to guarantee a second-place finish.

"We need a point to finish second," said Mourinho. "We need a point to say that only one team was better than us, we need a point to say that 18 teams were not as good as us. We need a point to prove that."

West Ham secured their survival in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory at Leicester on Saturday.

They now finish with back-to-back home games against United and Everton.

Team news

While Sanchez is available for United, Romelu Lukaku will miss out again due to an ankle injury.

Lukaku faces a race to recover from his ankle injury in time for the FA Cup final, while Marouane Fellaini has suffered a muscle problem but could return for the last Premier League match of the season against Watford on Sunday.

Sanchez and Phil Jones are available after both missing the defeat at Brighton.

West Ham will be without Javier Hernandez for the visit of his old club. The striker has yet to shake off the knee problem which kept him out of last weekend's win at Leicester.

Pedro Obiang and James Collins are back in training after spells out injured and could be involved.

Opta stats

West Ham have lost 13 of their last 18 Premier League games against Man Utd (W1 D4), including their only previous meeting at London Stadium last season.

Man Utd have only failed to score in one of their last 15 Premier League visits to West Ham, losing 1-0 in December 2006.

West Ham haven't recorded back-to-back Premier League victories since January 2017.

Mourinho has won 11 of his 14 meetings with West Ham in all competitions (D2 L1), winning three of his four as Man Utd manager (D1).

Mourinho has never lost a Premier League meeting with David Moyes (P10 W7 D3 L0) and has only faced Sam Allardyce (12 games) more without losing than the Scotsman.

Javier Hernandez could become the 23rd player to score a Premier League goal both for and against Manchester United - three of the previous 22 have done so for the first time this season (Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan).

Merson's predictions

No game is a dead rubber when you play for Man Utd, everyone wants to beat them. And United need to start getting going as it is a bit worrying for them.

You look at their squad and think it is big, and then they make a lorry load of changes and never look like beating Brighton. So I think this is a big football match for them and you are looking at players here and you start questioning are they good enough to play for United?

And what Jose Mourinho said after the Brighton game was spot on - people thought it was a bit harsh, but I did not think so. These lads were given a chance, but they looked like they were thinking, 'We are only playing because he has made changes for next week, when we won't be playing (the FA Cup final).'

And you can't go out with that attitude. West Ham have gone great, but I have to go for a response here and I would be shocked if there was not one, so I am going to go 2-1 United. They cannot go into the Cup final playing like this - you can't just turn it on and off like a tap.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2

Setting the scene… The Reds make the long trip to the capital on Thursday evening for our final away game of the 2017/18 Premier League season. Jose Mourinho’s men face a West Ham United side who are now mathematically safe from relegation after Swansea City lost 1-0 at home to fellow strugglers Southampton on Tuesday night. United will be looking to immediately bounce back from the disappointing 1-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion last Friday night and know only one more point is required to secure second place, following Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last weekend.

How can I follow it? Thursday’s clash kicks off at 19:45 BST and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK. Subscribers to MUTV on Sky or Virgin Media, the club’s MUTV app or online at MUTV.com will be able to watch build-up from 17:45 BST on the Match Day show and listen to radio commentary of the game before watching it in full at midnight. Keep up with all the action as it happens via ManUtd.com’s live match blog and by follow the official Twitter account @ManUtd.

Any team news? The boss confirmed on Wednesday that Belgian duo Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini are injured and will be unavailable to face the Hammers, but Phil Jones and Alexis Sanchez will return after the pair missed last week's defeat at Brighton. Read more here.

What about West Ham? The Hammers, managed by former United boss David Moyes, currently have a lengthy injury list, with a number of players sidelined. Former Reds striker Javier Hernandez (knee), Michail Antonio and James Collins (both hamstring), Winston Reid and Pedro Obiang (both knee-ligament damage) and Sam Byram (ankle) are all absent. On-loan Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart (illness) and the club’s Player of the Year Marko Arnautovic (knock) could return but are rated as doubtful.

How are the hosts doing? West Ham responded to back-to-back 4-1 defeats at home to Manchester City and away at Arsenal with an impressive 2-0 victory at Leicester City last weekend, courtesy of goals from Joao Mario and captain Mark Noble. It was their first win in five games, since beating Southampton 3-0 at the London Stadium at the end of March – which is their only victory in their last four home matches. A second home win over United in three years would take West Ham, who currently sit in 15th place, past the 40-point mark. Our former manager Moyes has targeted two wins from the Hammers’ remaining two matches – with a match against another of his old clubs, Everton, at home to come on Sunday.

What happened last time we played West Ham? It seems like a long time ago since the Reds faced the Hammers on the opening weekend of the Premier League season back in August. Romelu Lukaku capped his league debut for the Reds with two goals, before French duo Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba added late goals as United ran out 4-0 winners at Old Trafford, against a West Ham side managed by former defender Slaven Bilic. The Croatian was later sacked after the club’s poor start led to them languishing in the relegation zone in November.

What happened on our last trip to West Ham? It was a victorious first visit to the London Stadium when the Reds locked horns with the Hammers back in January 2017. After Sofiane Feghouli was sent off early on for a challenge on Phil Jones, United took control and went on to win 2-0 through second-half goals from Juan Mata and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It also turned out to be West Ham's highest home attendance of last season, with almost 57,000 fans watching the Reds make a perfect start to the new year.

How have we fared against West Ham in the past? Historically, the Reds have done well against West Ham in the Premier League era, winning 27 of the previous 43 meetings, drawing 11 and losing five. Thursday’s game will be United’s 139th competitive encounter against the Hammers and our overall record makes for positive reading, having won 65, drawn 30 and lost 43 of the previous 138 matches. In recent times, the Reds have had plenty of joy against the capital club, winning 10 of the last 17 encounters, including the last three, while drawing six and losing just one – the 3-2 defeat in May 2016 in the final game played at West Ham’s old Upton Park ground.

Look out for: Thursday's game represents a reunion with two hugely popular former Reds. Although Chicarito is set to miss out through injury, the Mexican striker was a fans' favourite during his five years at Old Trafford (one of which was spent on loan at Real Madrid) as he scored 59 goals in 157 appearances. Veteran left-back Patrice Evra, meanwhile, netted 10 goals in 379 appearances during a successful eight-year stay at Old Trafford before leaving in 2014. Both are sure to receive a warm reception from the away end at the London Stadium.

Why are we playing on a Thursday? This game was originally due to be played on Sunday 18 March but had to be rearranged after United reached the Emirates FA Cup quarter-finals, to accommodate our tie at home to Brighton, which the Reds won 2-0. This week was seemingly the only available window to play the match and, with other Premier League games taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday, the broadcasters have made the decision to move it to Thursday. It will be our first league game on a Thursday night in just over a year, since last season’s goalless draw at Manchester City.

A potential milestone… Ashley Young could make his 200th appearance for the Reds since arriving from Aston Villa in the summer of 2011. The versatile Englishman was the captain against Brighton last time out and, after the game, spoke of the need to respond positively and quickly. “We have to pick ourselves up as we have got points to play for,” he told MUTV. “We have games left to play and we deserve to finish in the second position, but we need to put points on the board from now until the end of the season.”

Did you know? The Reds are looking for a first win in our final away match of a Premier League season since 2011/12, while Jose Mourinho has never lost a Premier League meeting with Moyes – winning seven and drawing three.

What do you think the result will be? Get involved and make your prediction with the Manchester United Score Predictor and win amazing prizes throughout the season with Marathonbet.

Who’s the referee? Jon Moss will take charge of his fifth United game of the season, and first in 2018, after handling the Reds’ 4-0 win at Swansea in August, 1-0 home win against Tottenham in October, 4-2 win at Watford in November, and 2-2 draw at Leicester in December. Only FA Cup final referee Michael Oliver has officiated more Premier League games this term than the West Yorkshire whistler, who oversaw his 27th top-flight match in Everton’s 1-1 draw against Southampton last weekend. He will be assisted on Thursday by Eddie Smart and Harry Lennard, with Kevin Friend appointed as the fourth official.

Rivals Watch: There are six Premier League games taking place in midweek, spread across three days. Here's the fixture list, including a pivotal result for the Saints in their battle to avoid the drop:

Tuesday 8 May
Swansea City 0 Southampton 1

Wednesday 9 May
Chelsea v Huddersfield Town (19:45 BST)
Leicester City v Arsenal (19:45 BST)
Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion (20:00 BST)
Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United (20:00 BST)

Thursday 10 May
West Ham United v Manchester United (19:45 BST)

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