By Daniel Feliciano

26th May, 2023 | 7:10am

Paul Merson predicts result of West Ham United Premier League clash v Leicester City

Paul Merson has made his predictions for the final Premier League game of the season between West Ham United and Leicester City on Sunday (28 May).

The Hammers are already safe from relegation after recent results and will have one eye on their Europa Conference League final the following week, while Leicester must win to have a chance of avoiding relegation to the Championship.

And while speaking to Sportskeeda (25 May), Merson admitted that he feels the home team will collect the win by trying to apply early pressure on the other teams involved in the battle at the bottom although he doesn’t know if it will be enough to save them from the drop.

“I really fancy Leicester City to win this one, but they need to take an early lead against West Ham to put pressure on the likes of Everton and Leeds United,” he said.

“On the final matchday of last season, Manchester City were 2-0 down against Villa with 15 minutes left on the clock. Liverpool could have put more pressure on the Cityzens if they had scored a goal against Wolves in that period, but they didn’t manage to do so, allowing Manchester City to stage a stunning fightback and win the title.

“It might not seem like much, but the smallest of margins could decide everything in the Premier League. I think Leicester will win and stay up but if they don’t, the likes of James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes will leave as they are too good to be playing in the Championship. Leicester City 3-1 West Ham United.”

Momentum

Obviously David Moyes, the players and the West Ham fans will want to win every game they possibly can, and they’ll want to sign off a tough domestic season with a victory.

But more important is ensuring there are no injuries to key players ahead of the biggest game we’ve had in 40 years against Fiorentina, and that could well see us fall to defeat.

Getting the victory would be fantastic for morale and momentum heading into that game, but there’s no doubt that several of the players would be forgiven for having that cup final in the back of their mind when going into tackles or pushing that extra 5%.

Leicester are going to be hungry and will have the fans right behind them pushing them all the way, so a result won’t be expected but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go for it.

Either way, if you ask the fans if they’d take a loss on Sunday to have a better chance of winning in Prague against Fiorentina then it’s fair to say you’d get a resounding and unanimous yes.