Manchester United Match Preview

After being dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Liverpool on Wednesday night, it’s back to Premier League duties for West Ham United as Manchester United are the visitors to Stratford in today’s early kick-off.

David Moyes’ men are currently in eighth place after a 3-0 victory here against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Sunday and they will be keen to notch up back-to-back home successes which will leave them on thirty points before Christmas Day. If they get a win here, it will mean that they would jump above their opponents and remain on course for a fourth consecutive European finish.

Moyes had never picked up a top-flight victory against his former club since leaving Old Trafford in 2014. That was until last season when this fixture ended in a 1-0 victory for the Irons. With Erik ten Hag’s side not on the most spectacular run of current form, the home fans will be hoping for a similar outcome which will give them a perfect pre-Christmas present. They will also want to atone for the less than satisfactory result and performance at Anfield three days ago where they lost 5-1.

Having said that, the Red Devils have had six days to prepare for this fixture so you’d think that they will be the fresher of the two sides and have momentum behind them following the goalless draw with Jürgen Klopp’s men. However, as we all know in football, anything can happen!!!

Despite Alphonse Areola being available for selection last weekend, Moyes kept faith with Łukasz Fabiański in goal and rotated for the Cup tie in midweek. The former Paris Saint-Germain stopper is likely to retain his place for today’s match.

Kurt Zouma, James Ward-Prowse, Lucas Paquetá and Emerson Palmieri are all set to be restored to the starting line-up, while it is hoped that Nayef Aguerd will have recovered from illness to regain his place.

The match is a 12:30pm kick-off and for the fourth game in succession, the East Londoners have been selected for live television coverage. It will be screened by TNT Sports with the broadcast scheduled to begin at 11am and the referee is Simon Hooper.