West Ham United vs Sheffield United; Premier League
West Ham United vs Sheffield United. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance59,878.
West Ham vs Sheff Utd preview
Watch match highlights at 5.15pm on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app
Friday 25 October 2019 17:29, UK
Team news, key stats and prediction ahead of West Ham vs Sheffield United in the Premier League.
Team news
West Ham will have Aaron Cresswell back for the London Stadium clash. The left-back missed the Hammers' defeat at Everton last time out with a groin strain but has trained this week without any problems. Defender Winston Reid is set to step up his recovery from a long-term knee injury with an appearance for the U23s but will not be involved in this fixture.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has no fresh fitness concerns, with David McGoldrick, Oli McBurnie and John Fleck coming through the 1-0 win against Arsenal unscathed following recent knocks. Wilder's selection dilemmas come up front but he could well stick with McGoldrick and Monday's matchwinner, Lys Mousset up top.
How to follow and 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 won just one of their last seven home meetings with Sheffield United in all competitions (D5 L1), though it did come in the last such Premier League meeting between the sides (1-0 in November 2006).
- Sheffield United are winless in their last 16 top-flight games in London, drawing five and losing 11 since a 2-1 win at Chelsea in October 1992.
- Sheffield United are one of only two Premier League teams still unbeaten away from home this season (W1 D3 L0), along with Liverpool. The last newly-promoted team to go unbeaten in their first five away Premier League games of a season were Hull City in 2008-09 under Phil Brown.
- West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is set to face Sheffield United for the first time in the Premier League - he has registered a victory over 25 of the previous 28 teams he's faced, failing only against Brighton, Man City and Wolves.
- Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Chris Wilder has won 79 league matches as manager of Sheffield United - in the top four tiers, only Jurgen Klopp (81) and Pep Guardiola (93) have won more in that time.
- West Ham have won none of their last nine Premier League games in October (W0 D3 L6) since winning 1-0 against Sunderland in October 2016.
- Based on Opta's expected goals on target data (xGoT), Sheffield United's Dean Henderson has prevented 4 goals in the Premier League this season; no goalkeeper has prevented more. In fact, Henderson has kept 25 clean sheets in the league since the start of last season; more than any other goalkeeper in England's top four tiers.
Charlie's prediction
This is a decent game between two teams with good energy when they are at it. We have been complementing West Ham - Manuel Pellegrini has been clever - but they went to Everton and everyone to a man was poor. Sheffield United, as we saw against Arsenal, are very good in their shape and in energy and togetherness. They are always at you, with four or five runners too. They have no real star qualities as individuals, but everybody buys into Chris Wilder's plan - it is raw honesty and desire that gets them there. The Blades don't score many, though, and I think West Ham will be angry after last week.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-1 (8/1 with Sky Bet)
Fantasy Football tip: Sheffield United may not concede many goals, but they do not score many either. Since Lukasz Fabianksi's injury, Roberto (£6.2m) has made three starts, reaching tier one save bonus points in two of those. He could be worth a consideration, with a minute 0.07 per cent of Fantasy Football bosses recruiting his services thus far. Play here
Super 6: Blades to buck trend and land Hammer blow?
Despite defeating Arsenal on Monday, only 11% of players are backing Sheffield Utd to beat West Ham in Saturday's Super 6 round. With £250k to be won, what score will you predict? Play for free.
