At the start of the season you’d have imagined the current PL positions of both sides would be the other way around. Sheffield United are currently 8th in the table and West Ham are 16th but there’s potential for West Ham’s fortunes in particular to change.
David Moyes’ appointment seems to have given West Ham a new style of play and has given the Hammers life with 2 wins from 2, a 4-0 win against Bournemouth and a 2-0 away win at Gillingham and has also potentially revived the out of form forwards. Felipe Anderson prior to Moyes hadn’t contributed a goal all season but registered his first goal of the season in the Bournemouth win, last season he scored 9 in total and West Ham could really do with him finding some real form.
West Ham’s position in the table is poorly reflected with the main bulk of their issues coming from Fabianski being injured and being forced to play inexperienced goalkeepers but they also have had a problem with scoring goals. In the 2010’s West Ham’s top goalscorer in one season was Arnautovic who scored 11 goals, no player managed to score more PL goals in one season than him which doesn’t quite cut it with teams around them having proven goalscorers banging them in.
Sheffield United have proven their well drilled consistency this season but it could be said they’re starting to slip slightly, they’ve started slipping clean sheets away in recent weeks and in the last 10 games they’ve conceded 13 goals. In usual circumstances, that’s a very reasonable amount of goals conceded but they only let in 8 in their first 11 PL games this year. The bar that Chris Wilder’s side have set has given them an outside shot of European football so the recent slack defending could be a niggling worry.
The Blades consistently select the same defensive setup with Baldock, O’Connell and Stevens playing every single minute so far this season, Henderson and Basham have missed less than 90 minutes each. It’ll be nothing short of impressive if all of those players are able to play every minute of every game but it could play a factor in the potential decline of Sheffield United in coming months. The main form of the Blades tends to come away from home with 15 of their 29 points coming away from Bramall Lane, they’ve also lost double the amount of home games than away games.
Robert Snodgrass and Declan Rice are both one booking away from suspension as are a few Sheffield United players: Stevens, Baldock, Lundstram, Basham and Norwood being the affected. Injury-wise Aaron Cresswell is nursing a knock but could well be in the squad, Ryan Fredericks is ruled out with a hamstring injury and Hammers’ skipper Mark Noble also has a knock to comprehend.
The reverse fixture in October was 1-1 at the Olympic Stadium and I’d expect the same tonight. Moyes has galvanized West Ham but Sheffield United’s stubborn setup alongside West Ham’s shoddy offensive threat seems like it should fizzle out to an even ending.
There’s not much joy in the markets for wagers, especially with both teams having goal issues but there’s plenty of value in the card markets. Here’s something that’s overpriced that could be a nice earner.
Price as of 23:45PM 9/1/2020.
Kick off is 20:00PM 10/1/2020.
samyets 