Match Preview: United v West Ham

The Reds found fluency in the final 20 minutes of Thursday night's 4-1 victory over Athletic Club of Bilbao, with substitutes Mason Mount and Amad delivering particularly blistering cameos and Rasmus Hojlund tapping home his 10th goal of the season.

 

But how will Ruben Amorim approach the visit of the Hammers this weekend? While our European form has been excellent – with 14 goals in our last four games – we're badly in need of league points. Yet with the date with Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao surely paramount in the boss's thinking, will he continue to rotate the squad for domestic fixtures?

 

Read on for the background information to that quandary, plus everything you need to know about Sunday's game, including how you can follow the action...

 

Sunday's game is not being broadcast live on TV in the UK, with Nottingham Forest versus Leicester City selected by Sky Sports in the 14:15 BST slot. If you reside elsewhere, please check local listings to see if the match is being shown wherever you are.

 

Exclusive build-up will begin on MUTV from 13:10 BST with Wes Brown, Siobhan Chamberlain and Ben Thornley on hand to provide insight and analysis.

 

The United App will have the team news for you at 12:45 BST and later provide blow-by-blow reporting and updates throughout the afternoon.

 

We're also providing live radio commentary, insight and Opta-fed stats to keep you across what is happening. Highlights will be available across our platforms from two hours after the final whistle.

 

United have been boosted in recent weeks by the return to fitness of Amad, who shone in the final half an hour of Thursday's big European win, but there are concerns over other players.

Speaking to the media ahead of this game, Ruben Amorim stressed that Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui are being managed, with knocks and workload in mind, while Toby Collyer, Diogo Dalot, Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven and Joshua Zirkzee are currently sidelined. Lisandro Martinez will not play again this season, due to a serious knee injury.

 

Amorim hinted that some of the absent players would “push” to return in time for the Europa League final, but we don't know who he was referring to at this stage. The good news is that the injury De Ligt picked up at Brentford last weekend has been classified as “not a big issue”. The Portuguese did rule the centre-back out of Sunday's game, but there is hope he could feature again before the season's close.

 

Elsewhere in the squad, it's a case of managing individual players. Against Newcastle United, Wolves and Brentford we saw youngsters like Chido Obi, Tyler Fredericson and Harry Amass get chances to impress, with more senior figures rested. Could the same happen this weekend? We'll find out when the team news is revealed via the United App and ManUtd.com.

 

While United have soared in Europe during recent months, our league form has been more disappointing – though Amorim has rotated the team in recent weeks, due to that focus on reaching the Europa League final. Our last Premier League victory came at the King Power Stadium on 16 March, when we beat Leicester City 3-0, with goals from Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes.

 

Since then, we've suffered a winless run of six matches, with two draws and four defeats. Our last league game at Old Trafford was a 1-0 reverse to in-form Wolverhampton Wanderers, who edged a game which United had the better of thanks to Pablo Sarabia's sublime free-kick, scored with just 13 minutes remaining.

 

The encouraging news for United is that West Ham are on an even worse run. Graham Potter's side have not tasted victory since February – their most-recent success was also against Leicester – with a sequence of four draws and four defeats following that 2-0 win over the Foxes. They do have form for nabbing big away wins though: their last three points on the road came at the Emirates, when they beat Arsenal 1-0, with former United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka arguably the Man of the Match.

 

The Hammers have not won a Premier League game at Old Trafford for almost 18 years. Their last triumph came on the final day of the 2006/07 season – the day Sir Alex Ferguson's United celebrated the club's 16th top-flight title – thanks to a goal from Carlos Tevez, who would join the Reds just a few months later.

 

That result ensured West Ham's Premier League survival, at the expense of Sheffield United, though the east London club did go down a few years later, at the end of the 2010/11 season.

 

 

Fulham v Everton

Ipswich Town v Brentford

Southampton v Manchester City

Wolves v Brighton & Hove Albion

Bournemouth v Aston Villa (17:30 BST)

 

 

Newcastle United v Chelsea (12:00 BST)

UNITED v West Ham United (14:15 BST)

Nottingham Forest v Leicester City (14:15 BST)
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace (14:15 BST)

Liverpool v Arsenal (16:30 BST)