Today, Manchester United takes on West Ham in the Premier League with the goal of winning consecutive Premier League games for the first time this year.
Today, Manchester United will go to London in an attempt to secure their fourth league victory of the season and build on their victory against Brentford in the Premier League last weekend.
Erik ten Hag’s club once again blew a lead in European play, drawing 1-1 with Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in midweek, which somewhat halted the momentum of the comeback victory over the Bees.
Going into the weekend, United is now ranked 12th in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League, and they need some wins. Bruno Fernandes is back after suspension, while Jonny Evans is expected to rejoin the matchday squad; however, Antony may be out due to an injury he sustained in Istanbul.
At the London Stadium, keep an eye out for the following five things:
The rage of Amad
For United, players’ minutes being abruptly cut has been a recurring theme this season. Before starting again against Porto, Manuel Ugarte played two minutes in three games after starting against Tottenham.
Lately, Amad has been in a similar situation. After starting the 3-3 draw against Porto and enjoying a strong start to the season, he fell back in the rankings behind Antony. Amad wouldn’t have left the bench for three games if it weren’t for the Brazilian’s injury.
He had little opportunity to have an effect in the last five minutes and was obviously furious about the circumstances in Istanbul. Given that Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford started twice this week and Ten Hag has been eager to rotate this season, some would argue that giving Amad a start would be a nice method to vent his resentment.
Left-back query
Lisandro Martinez, a left-footer, has played left-back for United this week, improving their balance. The Argentine should be given a third consecutive start in that position since Evans is also making a comeback to their squad.
Ten Hag might put Diogo Dalot back on the left and the Moroccan on the right as Noussair Mazraoui is ready to start and will probably switch back to full-back. However, Dalot has been playing poorly lately.
Martinez can still participate in build-up play from deep and gives United something new on the left. When in possession, Mazraoui could play on the right, push up into midfield, and let Martinez shuffle in from the left to effectively become a third centre-back.
The impetus of Ugarte
Although it seemed quite obvious that Casemiro would start against West Ham after he was benched against Fenerbahce, Ten Hag may need to reconsider his midfield lineup.
Bruno Fernandes will undoubtedly make a comeback, and Christian Eriksen’s strong play indicates he will maintain his position. Who fills the holding midfield position is the current question.
Although Ugarte had a poor start to his career at Old Trafford, he performed admirably against the Turkish team and deserves the opportunity to try to build on that success.
Was it a good or poor week?
United will be able to look back on a successful week if they can leave the capital with three points. A very respectable return would be two Premier League victories and a Europa League tie in Istanbul.
However, the outcome against Fenerbahce does suggest that the events versus West Ham will now determine the week. Win, and everything will be fine. Ten Hag is once again under pressure if they lose.
The seven games that follow, six of which are at Old Trafford and the other at Ipswich, make this game even more significant. This is a great opportunity to start moving forward.
Heat-sensitive hammers
When Sevilla defeated United 2-1 in the 2020 Europa League semi-finals, Julen Lopetegui was in command. However, the Spaniard lost both games against the Reds while leading Wolves, and he is already under pressure at West Ham.
Although he has a quality team to work with, they have only won two Premier League games thus far, and last weekend’s 4-1 loss to Tottenham was poorly received by the fans. This weekend, Lopetegui may need a victory even more than Ten Hag.
