Leeds United match preview

The games at the end of both January and February have been the only two that West Ham United have lost in the Premier League since the start of 2021 and having been defeated by Manchester City at The Etihad Stadium last Saturday, the Hammers will see the start of March as a chance to get back to winning ways, with newly-promoted Leeds United visiting Stratford tonight.

The East Londoners can do the double over Marcelo Bielsa’s side, having picked up a rare win at Elland Road back in December.

Leeds also go into this game looking to bounce back after they were on the wrong end of a 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa on the same day that tonight’s hosts suffered their 2-1 defeat to the Citizens. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what gives here.

West Ham continue to have a good record against the top-flight’s newcomers this season with Fulham being the only team to have taken points from them as they were held to a goalless draw by Scott Parker’s side last month.

David Moyes’ men will be grateful to be back on home soil, as last time they were there fifteen days ago, they pulled off a memorable win over fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a London derby.

Darren Randolph deputised for Łukasz Fabiański last weekend, as the Pole was out of action with an injury to his arm. Moyes still named two goalkeepers on his bench though with Nathan Trott alongside David Martin amongst the substitutes.

There is a chance that Fabianski could return although he hasn’t yet taken part in any training ahead of the fixture. If he doesn’t feature, then Martin will start his first game of the campaign and
Trott will have to be involved from the bench after it was confirmed following the game in Manchester that Randolph had picked up a hip problem.

Saïd Benrahma made his full debut for the club in the reverse fixture and will be hoping to regain his place although Pablo Fornals will be desperate to remain in the side, while Jarrod Bowen could also come in for Ben Johnson.

Tonight’s match is an 8pm kick-off with live coverage being screened by Sky Sports from 7pm. The referee is Mike Dean.