Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the English Premier League match.
On Thursday, the 14th round of the Premier League will conclude with Manchester United, who are pushing for the UEFA Champions League places, hosting West Ham United, who will travel looking to move further away from the relegation zone.
Manchester United
Even a win is unlikely to allow Manchester United to displace Aston Villa from fourth place. To do that they would need to beat them by a four-goal margin. So far their biggest winning margin has been two goals, both at home, against Sunderland (2:0) and Brighton & Hove Albion (4:2). Last Sunday the team even won away. Crystal Palace are a tough opponent for anyone this year, but two goals from free-kicks proved decisive. However, overall Manchester United created fewer clear chances with shots level (14): 1.19-1.83 in xG.
West Ham United
On the same Sunday, West Ham United suffered a defeat after taking points in three consecutive rounds (seven in total). It seemed possible to get a positive result against a struggling Liverpool side, but they allowed the Londoners almost nothing. And when they did get close to Alisson Becker’s goal, the team failed to hit the target — not a single shot on target from seven attempts. In addition, at Old Trafford Nuno Espírito Santo will have to do without one of his main creative players, Lucas Paquetá. The Brazilian received two yellow cards within a minute for arguing with the referee.
Manchester United vs West Ham United Prediction
With their high share of long balls (55.3%), Manchester United are well placed to hurt the visitors more than once. They are likely to score a couple of goals, as they have done in six of their previous seven league matches. On each of those occasions that was enough for at least a draw for the hosts. Therefore, we will back the hosts on the handicap, taking into account the current capabilities of their opponents.
