WHZ View: Three things to look out for in West Ham v Man United
West Ham travel to Old Trafford on Tuesday evening to face Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
David Moyes’ side have made an excellent start to 2021, winning seven out of nine games in all competitions and losing just once. This includes two FA Cup wins against Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers.
Our hosts are currently second in the Premier League table. They knocked out Watford and Liverpool on the way to the fifth round. Just one win in their last three games came in emphatic fashion, a 9-0 victory over Southampton last Wednesday.
It’s a mouthwatering cup tie between two sides having better seasons than they’d have anticipated in August. With that in mind, West Ham Zone have highlighted three things to look out for tomorrow evening.
Bounce back ability
It’s fair to say we underperformed against Fulham on Saturday. Three points would have taken us up to fourth in the league, above the champions Liverpool.
On other occasions this season when we’ve failed to play well, we’ve shown great character and team spirit in our following fixture. We won 3-1 at Villa Park after the defeat to Liverpool just last week.
At the beginning of the season, we went to the King Power Stadium and beat Leicester 3-0 after a 4-1 thrashing to Everton in the Carabao Cup. We also won 2-1 at Elland Road after United beat us at home in December.
If there’s one thing this ‘new West Ham’ can do, its react well after a poor performance.
Double up on Rashford
Marcus Rashford came on and changed the game when we hosted United earlier in the season. The winger came on at half time with his side 1-0 down.
He completed 100% of his passes in the half, scored the third and hit the post in a dazzling display [WyScout]. David Moyes won’t be taking any chances this time and could use the system that worked against villa.
Moyes deployed Ryan Fredericks to right-wing, who provided back up cover for Vladimir Coufal on Jack Grealish. It worked fantastically, and the Scot could choose to do this again on United’s previous match-winner.
Dawson at the double
Craig Dawson has scored three times for West Ham in just nine appearances for the club. The centre-half got his first for the club in the 1-0 win away to Stockport County in the FA Cup third round.
Since then, the Englishman has scored twice more in the Premier League, against Crystal Palace and Liverpool. The Hammers are deadly from set-plays, scoring eleven in the league so far this season.
He’ll be looking to double his FA Cup tally for us with a goal at Old Trafford.
In other West Ham news, our January mistake is highlighted by Antonio’s shocker against Fulham.