West Ham vs. Manchester United: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
Manchester United travel to West Ham, with Louis van Gaal's men desperate to improve their performances on the road. The Hammers have slipped back to eighth in the league after their high-flying start to the season, and they will be hoping to improve matters by capitalising on the Red Devils' recent propensity to travel badly.
Date: Sunday 8 February 2015
Time: 4:15 p.m. GMT/11:15 a.m EST
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Venue: Upton Park, London
TV Info: Sky Sports 1 (U.K. only) / N.B.C.S.N. (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Sky Go (U.K. only) / N.B.C. Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)
Form Lines
West Ham United: D W W W L
Manchester United: L W D W W
Predicted Formations
Players to Watch
From a West Ham perspective, Stewart Downing is having an excellent season, having racked up five goals and seven assists in the league. Sam Allardyce has chosen to deploy Downing behind the strikers, more often than not, with excellent results. Downing is averaging 2.8 key passes per game in the league, per WhoScored.com, and he can certainly cause Manchester United's defenders problems.
Manchester United are, of course, not short of danger men. With Radamel Falcao having scored against Leicester and then been rested against Cambridge United, his return to the starting XI could bring goals. More often than not, when he starts for the Red Devils, he provides a goal or an assist.
Key Battle
Alex Song versus Daley Blind in the centre of the park will be key. Blind has looked superb when not under pressure, but he has not coped as well when the opposition press him. With Song having enjoyed an excellent season at West Ham, Blind will have to be at his best. It will be interesting to see whether Van Gaal chooses to partner Blind with Marouane Fellaini, in order to add some physical presence to the midfield.
Odds
The odds for the game, per Odds Shark, are at the time of writing:
West Ham United to win: +320
Manchester United to win: -101
Draw: +268
Van Gaal and Allardyce will both see this as a winnable game. Manchester United may have struggled away from home throughout the season, but there has been enough decent form recently to point to something of a recovery. The win at Queens Park Rangers on 17 January arrested a run of away draws.
Following the blip at Cambridge, Manchester United have generally looked pretty comfortable, dispatching Leicester at Old Trafford and looking completely untroubled by Cambridge in the replay.
West Ham have struggled in the league since Christmas, registering just one win (and an additional two wins in the FA Cup). However, there is no shame in losses to Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, nor in a draw away to Swansea City. The home draw with West Bromwich Albion on 1 January would have been a disappointment, but it came in the midst of the hectic festive programme.
How Van Gaal approaches the game will be fascinating. He has moved away from playing with a back three in recent games, but it is possible he will revisit it in order to counter West Ham's attacking threat. Most Manchester United fans will probably be hoping that he does not, as the benefits to the Red Devils' defensive solidity have come at a cost to their attacking prowess.
