Confirmed XI: Antony, Weghorst & Rashford lead the line against the Hammers; Ten Hag seeking a victory

Ten Hag needs to get three points in the bag against the Hammers

Manchester United face West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League this evening seeking to overcome their last-minute defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday evening. It looked destined to be a 0-0 draw but a late penalty conceded by Luke Shaw saw Alexis Mac Allister bury the spot kick into the back of the net with Brighton looking to reach European football next season. United could be two or three wins away from confirming their place.

West Ham have not been in great form recently – losing their last three matches against Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Manchester City. It has put them back into a possible relegation battle just four points away from the relegation zone. However, the likelihood is that the relegation candidates are the five teams below them; Leicester City, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Everton and Southampton – unless the Hammer’s continued to lose – which is a distinct possibility.

United under Erik ten Hag this season has been a massive positive compared to last season. There has been a massive rise on competitiveness but at this stage of the season, there is a lot of fatigue and injury in the squad which has all come at the wrong time. But that is what happens in this game and United are not the only club suffering that at this stage of the season. It is a clear indication that better players must be sought in the summer with fringe players leaving.

Manchester United

De Gea;

Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Shaw, Malacia;

Eriksen, Casemiro, Fernandes;

Antony, Weghorst, Rashford

Substitutes

Butland; Maguire, Dalot, Williams; Sabitzer, Fred; Martial, Sancho, Garnacho

West Ham United

Fabianski;

Kehrer, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Cresswell;

Soucek, Rice;

Bowen, Paqueta, Benrahma;

Antonio

Substitutes

Areola; Anang, Johnson, Emerson; Fornals, Lanzini, Downes; Cornet, Ings

United and West Ham have met 53 times in the Premier League. United have won 33 times drawing 13 times and lost seven times. United have scored 103 goals, winning five penalties, scoring four. West Ham have scored 46 goals, won four penalties, scoring three. United have kept 21 clean sheets with West Ham keeping seven. Discipline is an issue with United players shown 64 yellow cards and four red cards. West Ham players have been shown 76 yellow cards and two red cards.

United have a good record against West Ham, winning seven, drawing once and losing twice in their last ten matches in all competitions. Since their last defeat, United have won three times; twice with 1-0 scorelines and once with a 3-1 scoreline. Marcus Rashford was the scorer in both 1-0 wins and in the 3-1 victory, which came in the Emirates FA Cup this season, an own goal plus goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Fred sealed the victory for FA Cup finalists United.

Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Teddy Sheringham, Javier Hernandez, Carlos Tevez, Roy Carroll, David Bellion, Jonathan Spector, Ravel Morrison and Jesse Lingard have all played for both clubs and probably more in the not too distant past. David Moyes managed United. Ferdinand, Evra, Carrick, Sheringham, Hernandez and Tevez are perhaps the more successful and well-known players to have played for both clubs – Morrison the biggest failure.

Written by John Walker

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.