West Ham host Leeds United on Sunday for a Premier League repeat of the FA Cup third round tie last weekend.
David Moyes’ side won 2-0 when the pair met exactly seven days before their upcoming match, at the same venue. Both managers made alterations from their strongest XIs – though Leeds more so as three teenagers with 13 Premier League minutes between them across their senior careers started.
Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming rematch.
When is kick off? Sunday 16 January, 14:00 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? London Stadium
TV channel/live stream? Sky Sports Main Event (UK), USA Network (US), DAZN (Canada)
Highlights? Sky Sports Football YouTube, Match of the Day 2
Referee? Mike Dean
VAR? Craig Pawson
Moyes may be optimistic about the nearing return of centre back Kurt Zouma, but Tomas Soucek has tested positive for Covid-19 and may not make it back in time for this one.
West Ham were able to finally welcome Aaron Cresswell back into the fold on Wednesday night but Ryan Fredericks was another player missing alongside the injured club captain Mark Noble (knee).
Long-term absentee Angelo Ogbonna and AFCON-participant Said Benrahma will also miss out.
You can read West Ham’s predicted lineup here.
Gelhardt was injured in training / Stu Forster/GettyImages
Both Tyler Roberts and Joe Gelhardt have been sidelined until February, adding to Leeds’ unrelenting injury woes.
Jamie Shackleton, Charlie Cresswell, Rodrigo Moreno, Pascal Struikj, Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are all out of action, as is the suspended Diego Llorente.
Left-back Junior Firpo is also a doubt after sustaining a head injury against West Ham last weekend.
You can read Leeds’ predicted lineup here.
Last week’s cup triumph earned West Ham a fourth consecutive victory against the Yorkshire outfit across all competitions, as many wins as they could muster in their previous 37 meetings with Leeds (D12 L21).
West Ham haven’t won four straight league matches against the Whites since a haul of victories between 1948 and 1949 when the pair were scrapping it out in the middle of England’s second tier.
For Leeds’ last win, you have to go back to the end of the 2004/05 Championship season, when Shaun Derry’s late strike earned Kevin Blackwell’s side a 2-1 win.
David Moyes (left) and Marcelo Bielsa have taken charge of more than 1,500 matches between them / JUSTIN TALLIS/GettyImages
After a wobbly December, which brought a five-game winless sequence across all competitions – including four defeats and two points dropped against relegation-scrapping Burnley – Moyes has steadied the ship. In fact, West Ham come into the contest on the back of their best run of the season, four straight wins in all competitions.
Leeds haven’t cobbled together two victories on the spin all term. Although, Marcelo Bielsa’s side did earn a desperately needed triumph over Burnley in their last Premier League outing to provide some breathing space above the relegation zone.
However, West Ham have shown their superiority against the 16th-placed strugglers just last week and are favourites once more, even with the upgrades Leeds can make from what remains a decimated squad.
Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Leeds
