Starting XI: West Ham vs Manchester United

Here are the 11 key points you need to know before tomorrow’s Premier League clash:

(1) After failing to capitalise on the opportunity to be seven points clear in 4th-place from Liverpool, Premier League action returns for Manchester United when they face West Ham at the London Stadium tomorrow evening. The Red Devils will aim to complete the double over their upcoming opponents after defeating them by a 1-0 margin in the home reverse back in October.

(2) It was an upsetting defeat for Man United at the Amex Stadium in their last league fixture as World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister’s 90+9th minute penalty strike helped Brighton continue their upward climb while sending The visitors in jeopardy of their league position. Though United have a one-game advantage over Liverpool, Ten Hag has a job on his hands to not let in any more slip-ups during the remaining games.

(3) Manchester United have only managed to win just one of their last eight Premier League fixtures in the capital. They defeated Fulham 2-1 earlier this season but have succumbed to three draws and four defeats in the remaining. The Reds will aim to shrug off these woes and reimpose their superiority over London-based sides.

(4) While manager Erik Ten Hag has again made Old Trafford a fortress for United, at the same time, he was compensated in away form this season. In fact, the defeat against Brighton in their last match made Man United continue their winless run against top-six teams in the Premier League standings. Though the Hammerers don’t belong to that group, they are fighting for survival, and they will put their heart and soul into tomorrow’s clash, knowing about their opponent’s away woes.

(5) Erik Ten Hag felt the return of 18-year-old sensation Alejandro Garnacho is a bit too early and he may not feature during the weekend, although he didn’t rule it out either.

“No, I think it will be the same squad, maybe one player [to add]: Garnacho. I have to see.”

(6) Raphael Varane and Scott McTominay were already ruled out by Erik Ten Hag for this week before the Brighton clash. However, the Frenchman might be available at the end part of the season. He was injured in the 2-2 draw with Sevilla back in April and have since been recovering according to plan.

(7) Lisandro Martinez will remain sidelined for this match and the entire season.

(8) Since winning 4-0 against Bournemouth, West Ham haven’t been able to secure any points in their last three matches. Their recent match against league leaders Manchester City ended in a defeat which further made them prone to a relegation fight late in the season.

(9) Hammerers’ manager David Moyes previewed Manchester United ahead of his team’s clash:

“Manchester United are a really good team with terrific players. The manager [Erik ten Hag] has done a brilliant job with them this year, so overall they’ve got a good side.

We had to play one of the best teams a few weeks ago in Arsenal [and got a result]. Now we’ve got to play another of the best teams in the Premier League in Manchester United, so we’ll have to play very well.

I’m looking forward to it, we need to play at our best. If we play at our best we’ll give them a really good game and if we get the crowd behind us the way they did against Arsenal, it’ll give us a great opportunity of getting a result.”

(10) David Moyes reflected on the narrow defeat his team suffered at the Old Trafford back in October:

“We did a lot of good things at Old Trafford but we didn’t come away with the results and if you look at recent seasons you think back to when Jesse Lingard scored a winner for them and I brought on Mark Noble in the 91st minute and he missed a penalty for an equaliser.

A few of the games against Manchester United have been pretty close, so hopefully we can give them a good game and obviously it’s really important.”

(11) As for West Ham, Nayef Aguerd, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek are back after illness, but Gianluca Scamacca and Kurt Zouma are missing, while Vladimir Coufal is a doubt with a hamstring issue.