Chris Sutton predicts result of West Ham United clash v Sheffield United for BBC Sport
Chris Sutton has predicted that West Ham United will get back to winning ways in the Premier League when they face Sheffield United on Saturday 30 September.
The BBC Sport pundit believes that the Hammers will get their first league win following the September international break, having lost to both Liverpool and Manchester City, when they face Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades, predicting David Moyes’ side to win 2-0.
Away from the Premier League, the Irons have continued their excellent start to the season, winning against Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup and beating TSC Backa Topola in the Europa League and Sutton believes that form will see them come out on top at the London Stadium.
Writing for his BBC Premier League predictions [28 August] he said: “It is really important for Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom that his side show some sort of response here after they were taken apart by Newcastle last week.
“I am not sure they will have the confidence or the quality to go to London Stadium and get a positive result. West Ham’s approach won’t change – we know how David Moyes likes to set his teams up – but the question is how long will the Blades hold out?
“They did well last time they were in London when they sat in against Tottenham, nicked a goal and were only beaten in stoppage time, but it will be hard for them if the Hammers score early.”
Hold out
It is clear from Sutton’s predictions that he believes the Blades will be travelling to East London in the hope of nicking a result rather than putting Moyes’ side to the sword and that could present an interesting challenge for West Ham.
Moyes’ side has typically set up to be defensively resolute and then clinical on the counterattack and that’s where they were at their best against the likes of Brighton and Chelsea, but should Sheffield United do the same, the Hammers may be forced to change their style slightly.
They’ve shown they are more than capable of doing that effectively so far this season, in their wins over Luton Town and TSC they dominated possession and wore down both opponents to ensure they came away with all three points.
As Sutton suggests, after last week’s demolition job by Newcastle, should the Irons score early, they could run riot over Heckingbottom’s side and that might just tempt Moyes into flexing his attacking muscles and potentially starting Mohammed Kudus from the start.
In other West Ham news, Paul Brown has labelled the decision to only use Kudus from the bench as “classic David Moyes”