Football

West Ham vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups: Declan Rice to Return After Falling Ill in the Week

May 6, 2023 11:16 pm
West Ham vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups: Declan Rice to Return After Falling Ill in the Week

West Ham take on Manchester United on Sunday night with one eye still on the teams behind them with the Hammers still battling away for Premier League survival. David Moyes’ side did see an upturn in results in the middle of April but have since slumped to three consecutive defeats which has put them in jeopardy once again.

Sitting on 34 points with four games to play, they will be desperate for a positive result of some description on Sunday night as they look to move away from the bottom three. With Leicester City, Everton and Nottingham Forest not playing until Monday, a win for the Hammers would see them move seven points clear of the drop zone.

For the away side, an instant bounceback will be on the agenda after losing to a 95th minute penalty on Thursday night against Brighton at the Amex Stadium. The Red Devils are now just one point ahead of Liverpool in the race for the top four and anything other than three points in East London on Thursday would only crank up the pressure further ahead of the final four games of the season.

The match is set to kick off at the unusual time of 19:00 UK time and viewers will be able to watch the match on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event.

West Ham Team News: Sick trio are set to return after missing Man City mauling

David Moyes was forced into several changes for the clash with Manchester City on Wednesday night when three of his most important players were struck down with illness. Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd all missed the 3-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium but they have returned to training in recent days and will be ready to take on Manchester United on Sunday.

The bad news for West Ham is that David Moyes confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that the virus is still doing the rounds with players in the squad. The ex-Manchester United boss said that one player was forced to go home on Friday while another reported that he wasn’t feeling well.

Aside from illness concerns, West Ham will also be without two key defenders due to injury problems. Full back Vladimir Coufal, who was forced off against Manchester City with a hamstring injury, and Kurt Zouma, who was forced off in the 4-3 loss to Crystal Palace, both look set to miss the game with United. Speaking about the pair, Moyes said:

“We’re not going to give a timeline on Kurt because we know he is a boy who does improve very quickly, but he’s also got an ankle injury, so we’ve not really got a date for it. On Vladimir, he won’t be available for this game, so we will need to see how he is going forward. He’s hurt his hamstring, we’re not quite exactly sure how bad, but we’re hoping that it’s not too bad.”

Manchester United Team News: Will Ten Hag welcome back any of his injured stars?

After the disastrous end to the game against Brighton, Erik Ten Hag may have a job on his hands to pick his players up for this pivotal clash at the London Stadium. Although his team played well in the first 45 minutes, they barely had a kick in the second half and that will need to change on Sunday night.

One change that the Dutchman will likely make will be to bring Christian Eriksen back into the starting eleven. The Dane started on the bench against Brighton with Fred coming into the starting lineup but the Brazilian’s strengths are unlikely to be as important in a game that United will want to dominate with possession.

In terms of injuries, United are still without Donny van de Beek, Scott Mctominay, Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane. However, they could welcome Alejandro Garnacho back to the match-day squad for the trip to East London. Speaking about the Argentinian, who recently signed a new deal at Old Trafford, Ten Hag said:

“I think it will be the same squad. Maybe Garnacho will be back but I have to see. Maybe he can be involved but we will have to see how he progresses.”

Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!