Ipswich Town will be looking to capitalise on West Ham United‘s misfortunes when they travel to the London Stadium for a Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams meet for the first time since January 2012 when the Tractor Boys cruised to a 5-1 home victory over the Hammers in the Championship.
Match preview
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The pressure is beginning to mount on West Ham’s new head coach Julen Lopetegui who has won just two of his opening eight games in charge across all competitions, failing to lead the Hammers to victory in any of their last five fixtures.
In a seven-day period at the end of September, West Ham suffered back-to-back defeats against Chelsea (3-0) and Liverpool (5-1), losing to the latter in the EFL Cup, before rescuing a point in a 1-1 draw at Brentford last weekend, with Tomas Soucek‘s second-half strike cancelling out a 38-second opener from Bryan Mbeumo.
Lopetegui was pleased with the reaction of his players after conceding so early in the game, but Hammers supporters are demanding more from their club, considering they spent over £120m on nine new first-team players in the summer.
West Ham have accumulated just five points from their opening six Premier League matches, the fifth time in the last nine seasons they have collected this number of points or fewer at this stage, and they find themselves languishing in 14th place in the table, just two points above the bottom three and six points behind the top six.
The Hammers, who are seeking to avoid losing their opening four top-flight home matches of a season for the first time, have a decent record against Saturday’s opponents Ipswich, as they have only lost one of their previous nine Premier League meetings.
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Competing in the top flight for the first time in 22 years, Ipswich now appear to be adapting to the rigours of Premier League football having avoided defeat in each of their last four matches, albeit drawing all four.
Solitary points were picked up from matches against Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton before they came from behind to claim a share of the spoils in a 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa last weekend.
Kieran McKenna felt that his Ipswich side ‘created more than enough to win’, but he was nevertheless delighted with the spirited performance of his side, particularly summer signing Liam Delap who starred for the Tractor Boys with two goals.
Sitting 15th and just one place and one point behind Saturday’s opponents West Ham in the table, Ipswich are one of only five Premier League teams who are still searching for their first victory of the season. They have in fact failed to win any of their opening six matches of a top-flight season for the first time since the 1982-83 campaign.
McKenna and co travel to the London Stadium seeking to collect their first three points on the road since April when they beat Coventry City 2-1 in the Championship, and there is reason to be optimistic as they have won their last two league meetings with West Ham by an aggregate score of 6-1.
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Team News
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West Ham are set to be without striker Niclas Fullkrug as he continues to recover from a calf injury, so Michail Antonio is in line to start again up front, unless Lopetegui calls upon Danny Ings or Jarrod Bowen to play down the middle.
Edson Alvarez was absent last weekend through suspension, but the Mexican is now available for selection and could replace Guido Rodriguez in the holding midfield role, joining Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta in the middle of the pitch.
Jean-Clair Todibo was handed his full Premier League debut against Brentford and he may continue his partnership in central defence alongside Max Kilman, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson Palmieri should retain their places at full-backs.
As for Ipswich, they have no fresh injury concerns, but will assess the fitness of Harry Clarke (Achilles) and Nathan Broadhead (hamstring) who have recently returned to training.
McKenna will weigh up whether to hand Jack Clarke another start on the left wing or recall fellow summer signing Sammie Szmodics, while Chiedozie Ogbene should get the nod to start on the right ahead of Wes Burns.
A back four of Axel Tuanzebe, Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis is set to remain intact, while Kalvin Phillips – who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham – is expected to continue in centre-midfield alongside captain Sam Morsey.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez; Bowen, Soucek, Paqueta, Kudus; Antonio
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Muric; Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Phillips; Ogbene, Hutchinson, Szmodics; Delap
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