This FA Cup clash is one game Manchester United need to win. First it will keep them in the race for a trophy this season which will be important considering the massive investments and expectations that come with such amounts of money being spent. Things are not looking good in the Premier League or Europa League. Losing to Liverpool 2-0 will be hard to come back from in the Europa League. The second reason for which United need to win is to have the upper hand on the team that is currently 2 points ahead of the Red Devils. West Ham are fifth in the Premier League with the direct match set for the 23rd of April. The thing is that the Hammers have lost just one out of their last 10 games in all competitions. If LVG would be the one to put a stop to this hot streak, things could go United’s way in both the FA Cup and the Premier League.
According to the BBC the Hammers will not set the FA Cup aside and will give it their best. Here is what West Ham manager Slaven Bilic had to say: “They are like a wounded lion, they have a massive game against us. It’s going to be very difficult but are we confident? Yes of course we are confident, but not because Manchester United didn’t play well (against Liverpool). We are confident because we are playing well.”But it would be dangerous, suicidal, if we approach the game like ‘they are playing badly, we are playing well, and we are going to cruise it’. No way we will do that.”
Statistics are in Manchester’s favor as the Hammers haven’t managed to win in any of their last trips to Old Trafford. They only drew once out of 9 games giving the Devils the upper hand right now. They haven’t lost a game to their FA adversaries since 2001 and the prediction is that they will not start now.
Both sides have lot problems with Manchester being forced to improvise due to the large number of injuries. Mata is also unavailable due to suspension and some of the players who are recovered are not yet ready to play. Unfortunately for United, their leading scorer is not available as Rooney just found out his injury will keep him in the infirmary for one more month. On the other side, West Ham set their hopes on Dimitri Payet who is the team’s top scorer with 10 goals.
Score Prediction: Manchester United 2 –1 West Ham
Predicted Manchester United Starting XI
Substitutes: Romero, Januzaj, Love, C Pereira, Valencia, McNair, Depay
Unavailable/Uncertain: Borthwick-Jackson, Jones, Valencia, Rooney, Shaw, Keane, Young, Fellaini, Schweinsteiger, Mata
Predicted West Ham Starting XI
Substitutes: Randolph, Howes, Song, Parfitt-Williams, Browne, Carroll, Moses
Unavailable/Uncertain: Moses, O`Brien, Valencia, Tomkins, Reid, Collins, Jenkinson