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Manchester United vs West Ham Preview

Manchester United vs West Ham United preview ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener.

Manchester United vs West Ham
Premier League 2017-18
13th August 2017, 16:00 pm BST
Old Trafford, Manchester

Manchester United Team News & Preview

A number of players who missed our Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid will be available for our Premier League opener against West Ham as Jose Mourinho has confirmed only three players will miss Sunday’s game.

Luke Shaw is still sidelined with the ankle injury picked up against Swansea City in April, whilst Marcos Rojo (hamstring) and Ashley Young (knee) are the other two players that the boss confirmed will miss our game versus the Hammers.

All three have played left-back under Mourinho so it looks as though Matteo Darmian will start that position again on Sunday as he did versus Real Madrid midweek.

Romelu Lukaku is expected to make his first Manchester United appearance at Old Trafford as the sole striker, as he did versus Real Madrid midweek.  Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic are also in line to make their Premier League debuts for us.

Predicted Starting Lineup (4-3-3): David de Gea; Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Matteo Darmian; Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba; Jesse Lingard, Romelu Lukaku, Henrikh Mkhitaryan

West Ham United Team News & Preview

The visitors will be without a number of their key players for the trip to Old Trafford as Michail Antonio (hamstring), Andy Carroll (groin), Sofiane Feghouli (hamstring), Cheikhou Kouyate (knee) and Diafra Sakho (back) are all sidelined.  Manuel Lanzini is also a doubt for the trip.

West Ham made one of the Premier League’s best summer signings in my opinion with the acquisition of Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen.  United fans know him only too well and how lethal he is inside the penalty area.  This could be a big ask for Victor Lindelof who didn’t look up to pace pre-season nor in the Super Cup.

Slaven Bilic’s side will have Andre Ayew down the right wing to cause us problems and another new arrival, Marko Arnautovic should start down the left.  Defensively the Hammers have all their players available and are expected to hand debuts to former-City duo Pablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart.

Predicted West Ham Starting Lineup (4-2-3-1): Joe Hart; Pablo Zabaleta, Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell; Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang; Andre Ayer, Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic; Javier Hernandez

Manchester United vs West Ham Key Stats

7 – Romelu Lukaku has scored seven goals in his last eight matches versus West Ham.

81% – We have won 17 of our 21 Premier League matches against West Ham at Old Trafford (D2, L2).

88% – Jose Mourinho has won seven of his eight games on the opening day of a Premier League campaign (D1).

Manchester United vs West Ham Prediction

West Ham have made a couple of changes at the back over the summer and Joe Hart has an error in him.  We should certainly have the beating of Pablo Zabaleta for pace down the left; the Argentine looked poor for City last season.

I fancy Romelu Lukaku to score on his Premier League debut for us, so much so that he is my fantasy football team captain.  Winston Reid is good in the air for the visitors but I’m not a fan of Angelo Ogbonna so I expect to see the big man see chances.

My biggest fear at the back is Javier Hernandez’s movement and goalscoring ability.  Chris Smalling has a tendency to lose players whilst Victor Lindelof needs time to settle into the English game.  David de Gea may need to be at his best again if he wants a clean sheet from this one.

Prediction: Manchester United 2-1 West Ham

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