EPL
Westham v Manchester United: Mourinho’s men seek 6th straight Premier League win
By: Timothy Dehinbo
Jose Mourinho and Manchester United will seek their sixth straight Premier League win in match day 20, as they travel to London to take on West Ham United on Monday evening.
The Hammers had their own winning streak come to an end at the hands of Leicester City on new year eve losing 1-0 at the King Power stadium with Islam Slimani strike making the difference. The loss, was the latest setback in what has been a disappointing season for the Londoners.
Despite the defeat in the hands of the champions, West Ham remain a solid team, capable of springing an upset against United.
United are in a great form at just the right time, and another win would move them even closer to the top three.
Manchester United revealed via their twitter account that Eric Bailly has departed for international duty, with Ivory Coast a d won’t be available for selection.
Michael Carrick is expected to return after missing the Middlesbrough match due to illness, and Wayne Rooney could return as well, according to Mourinho.
As reported by James Tuck of the club’s official website, he said:
“Bailly is leaving, he goes to the National team. He has to be with them on 2nd January. We asked them for him to be on 3rd January but they refused, so he cannot play against West Ham.
“Bailly is leaving, he goes to the National team. He has to be with them on 2nd January. We asked them for him to be on 3rd January but they refused, so he cannot play against West Ham.
“I know that I lose Bailly for a month and I’m going to have Smalling, Rojo and Jones for, I think, eight matches. So I decided to play Eric [against Middlesbrough] and it was good to have him on the pitch because, one-on-one at the back, he’s the best because he’s very fast.
Rooney has a little chance and Carrick has a bigger chance than Rooney. Let’s see how he is on Monday.
Mark Noble suffered a knock to the knee in the loss against Leicester, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be fit to face United. Diafra Sakho and James Collins remain sidelined with long-term injuries.
United had to dig deep to beat Middlesbrough in match day 19, and their resilience in the final 15 minutes of that match, completing a comeback win despite a ton of adversity, is a good sign for 2017.
Paul Pogba is playing some of the best football of his life, finally justifying his lofty price tag after struggling in the first months following his arrival from Juventus.
Sports writer Liam Canning has been impressed:”No one can be in a position to criticise Pogba. Has been exceptional in the past few months and proved he’s a man for the important moments” via his twitter handle @LiamPaulCanning.
He hasn’t been the club’s most important midfielder of the past few months, however that honour goes to Carrick, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise the Red Devils struggled while he was absent against Boro.
The midfield battle in this clash could swing both ways and will largely depend on the availability of both Carrick and Noble.
Regardless, United should have the quality to deal with West Ham, as long as they keep an eye on Dimitri Payet and take care of their set-piece defending.
The latter has been an issue at times this year, and the Hammers can really hurt a team in the aerial battle. Defensively, West Ham has struggled with movement, so Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial should be given free reign to run and switch.
The reverse fixture at Old Trafford was 1 all draw, with Ibrahimovic having to equalize after Sahko’s early third minute header.
PREDICTION: WEST HAM 1-3 MAN UTD
