Preview: Manchester United Vs West Ham United

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by WarrenMenezes

by WarrenMenezes

22/07/2020

Manchester United entertain West Ham United in their final home game of the season. A victory could see United push into a Champions League slot and set up a thrilling tie with Leicester City in their final game.

Eric Bailly will be the only player not available for the Red Devils. Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe are also ruled out. West Ham United will miss out only on Robert Snodgrass.

My predicted line-up (4-3-3): Sergio Romero is being touted to start in goal after De Gea’s horror show Vs Chelsea on Sunday but I’m still going to go with the Spaniard. Luke Shaw could be back at LB after nursing an ankle injury. Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf continue to partner each other at center-back while Aaron Wan-Bissaka completes our defensive shape at RB.

Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Bruno Fernandes will be expected to start in the midfield three as we’ve been solid in the Premier League with the trio.

The front three includes Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood. Martial and Greenwood came on as subs during the semi-final but didn’t make a huge impact.

Manchester United have to give it their all against West Ham and they cannot afford to slip. The Hammers themselves have been a great form winning thrice and drawing once in their last five games. They sit three points ahead of Aston Villa who are 17th on the table.

I hope West Ham are a little complacent today as not only they are three points ahead but have also conceded 13 goals less compared to Villa. The Hammers are pretty much safe but mathematically it’s still possible for them to go down.

On the other hand, the more United score today at Old Trafford, the better. A win will obviously take us into 4th or even 3rd provided Chelsea lose to Liverpool. A superior goal deference could give us a little breathing space in our final game against Leicester City.

United are unbeaten in their last 12 games in the PL with 8 wins and 4 draws. A clean sheet for De Gea today could mean that he could surpass Peter Schmeichel’s PL club record of 112. Paul Pogba could play a significant role in this game as he scored twice in the same fixture last season which United won 2-1.

Bits from Solskjaer’s Press Conference:
- Does David Moyes get credit for the job he does at WH? I’ve not read everything that’s been written about David but he’s doing a fantastic job and since they’ve come back in, after the restart, he’s improved the team. He’s a fantastic manager and I know that it’s going to be a very difficult game for us.
- Will being unbeaten after the lockdown be an achievement? So far we’ve done really well after the restart. At the moment I’m thinking of only this one game. Of course if we go unbeaten that means we’re in the Champions League next year, but all eyes on the West Ham game. We know their threats and we’ve just got to focus on this one.
- Eric Bailly and other fitness issues: Eric stayed down in London after all the checks. I didn’t see him yesterday and he’s followed all the protocols that’s needed. I don’t think he’ll be ready for this game.
- De Gea’s response after the setback against Chelsea: This is not going to become a David de Gea press conference and we’re just going to stick together. We got two games and we just focus on that ones. David is mentally strong and knows his job is to perform in training and be ready for the next games.
- What is Ole looking to rectify from Sunday’s performance? When you lose a game you are hurt, disappointed and you just have to focus on the next thing. A defeat isn’t the end of the world, of course it was the end of the FA Cup dream and the final but now its business as usual and on to the next game.
- How important is CL football? You always want to be a part of the biggest tournaments, play against the biggest teams and that is an attraction itself but ManUtd is attractive enough. I think everyone can see now we are on a road… a journey towards something. It’s in our own hand. I don’t want to talk about how much it would mean financially or to attract people. We just have to focus on these next two games and make sure we’re there.
- Are these group of players mentally resolute as compared to before? I think we’ve grown over the season and of course the added pieces of Odion, Bruno, Paul and Marcus coming back from that team is of course a strength for us and we are better as a group, more robust and resilient so… the proofs in the pudding! So we have to see on Wednesday how they are and how they’re going to perform.