‘West Ham are in the top six for a reason’ – Lawro hails Irons and predicts result v Sheff Utd
Mark Lawrenson has backed the top six credentials of West Ham and has predicted a comfortable win for the Irons over Sheffield United on Monday.
The BBC pundit has predicted that the Irons will win 2-0 at the London Stadium in a game that could see the side break into the Premier League top four if Liverpool or Chelsea fail to win their games.
Rock-bottom Sheffield United are 28 points behind their hosts and the gap between the clubs looks gigantic.
In his latest round of Premier League predictions for the BBC Lawrenson has backed the Irons to make light work of the Blades’ recent resurgence that has seen them win six of their last nine games.
He said: “Sheffield United keep winning in the FA Cup and they have been really competitive in the Premier League even when they’ve lost – against Manchester City and Chelsea recently, when they went down by a single goal each time.
“The Blades will put up a fight this time too, I’m sure, but West Ham are in the top six for a reason. The Hammers look confident at the moment and, if they play like they can do, they will win.
Over and out
The previous meeting between these sides was settled by a man who is no longer at the London Stadium.
Sebastien Haller’s second-half strike was enough to edge the Brammall Lane contest on November 22 and this proved to be his penultimate Claret and Blue goal with his last coming in spectacular fashion against Crystal Palace on December 16.
He has subsequently moved onto pastures new after leaving London for Amsterdam at the start of January to join Dutch giants Ajax.
While the club-record signing was not all he was cracked up to be he was at least a recognised centre-forward who had a European goal-scoring pedigree.
After failing to sign a new striker the Irons have been left with just Michail Antonio as a senior option up top and they are sweating on his fitness ahead of Monday’s clash after he missed their trip to Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Andriy Yarmolenko deputised for Antonio but he suffered an injury of his own to leave the West Ham ranks seriously depleted in the forward department.
As Lawrenson predicts, perhaps do not expect too many goals in this game.
In other West Ham news, Dean Ashton names the trio of strikers he would have targeted to replace Sebastien Haller in January.