West Ham vs Norwich preview
Watch match highlights from 5.15pm on skysports.com and Sky Sports app
Friday 30 August 2019 14:55, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of West Ham vs Norwich in the Premier League.
Team news
For West Ham, Michail Antonio will have a hamstring injury assessed ahead of the game after he hobbled off in the midweek Carabao Cup win at Newport. Javier Hernandez has recovered from his knee injury from last week.
Norwich will be without Timm Klose, who will be out for at least the rest of 2019, and faces further tests next week on a knee injury suffered against Crawley. Grant Hanley will also miss out on the trip to London, but Christoph Zimmerman, Alex Tettey and Josip Drmic could all return.
How to watch
Follow the action with our dedicated live blog. Highlights of the game will be published at 5.15pm on the Sky Sports website and app plus the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
Opta stats
- West Ham have lost none of their last seven home league games against Norwich (W3 D4 L0) since a 0-2 defeat in March 1989 at Upton Park.
- West Ham have won four of their last six games in the Premier League (D1 L1), as many as they'd won in their previous 16 (W4 D4 L8).
- West Ham are looking to avoid back-to-back Premier League home defeats for the first time since September 2018, when they lost their opening two home games of 2018-19. They've lost seven of their last eight Premier League home games in August (W1).
- Norwich have converted six of their 33 shots in the Premier League so far this season, giving them the best conversion rate in the division (18 per cent). Teemu Pukki has scored five of their six goals (83 per cent) and had 12 of their 33 shots (36 per cent).
- Norwich's Teemu Pukki has scored in each of his first three Premier League games (5 goals) and could become the third player to net in his opening four appearances in the competition after Diego Costa and Mick Quinn. The only players to score 6+ goals in their first four PL games are Diego Costa (7), Mick Quinn (6) and Sergio Aguero (6).
- West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has never lost against Norwich City in all competitions (W3 D2 L0), remaining unbeaten in all five games as Man City manager between 2013 and 2016.
- Against Watford last time out, Sebastian Haller became the 150th different player to score a Premier League goal for West Ham - more than any other side in the competition.
Charlie Nicholas' prediction
Norwich are really good to watch, I like what they want to do. I like the combination of Todd Cantwell and Teemu Pukki. They have strong defensive frailties though. Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis have pace to burn, and they are trying to mould them into the modern attacking wing-backs, so they will see more of the ball and create more danger.
The two youngsters are good players but this can leave their defence vulnerable. They need more quality and protection in midfield, which means they will leak a lot of goals. This will be a treat to watch.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 3-2 (18/1 with Sky Bet)
