Sunderland vs West Ham preview
Sunderland will hope to finally secure their first win of the season when they play hosts to West Ham United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Only the Black Cats and their local rivals Newcastle are winless in the Premier League this season and Dick Advocaat’s men are propping up the table, with two points after seven games.
They need a confidence-boosting win soon because a lot is going wrong for them. Sunderland have the worst defensive record in the league, the worst disciplinary record in the division and Advocaat’s men haven’t scored since August.
Jermain Defoe, an ex-West Ham hero, is imploring his Sunderland team-mates to ensure that they secure a victory on Saturday so they can at least go into the international break with less pressure on them. The 32-year-old is experienced enough to know his team are the favourites to go down unless they improve soon.
West Ham are pinching themselves in third-place in the table after an incredible start to their campaign. The Hammers collected maximum points on their trips to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
While Slaven Bilic’s men have been excellent at frustrating big teams before hitting them with pace and conviction on the counter, they have been disappointing in winnable games when the onus is on them to take the game to the opponents.
West Ham needed a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Norwich after they were outplayed by the Canaries last weekend. Prior to that, Bilic’s men lost to Bournemouth and Leicester City, so Sunderland will draw inspiration from that trend.
Sunderland team news
- Adam Matthews remains sidelined for the Black Cats with an ankle injury.
- Jack Rodwell could miss out with an ankle problem.
West Ham team news
- Enner Valencia returned to training this week after a long spell on the sidelines with a knee injury. He is unlikely to feature though.
- Joey O’Brien (calf), Alex Song (ankle) and Angelo Ogbonna (hamstring) are all definitely out injured.
- Winston Reid (thigh) is a doubt, but should be fit to start.
- Andy Carroll (knee) will be assessed closer to kick-off as West Ham monitor his return to full fitness.
Sunderland vs West Ham prediction
Sunderland adopted an attack-minded approach in their last home game against Manchester City, but the move backfired as they went 0-4 down inside the opening 38 minutes. Advocaat will probably be more cautious this time and detail his charges to defend deeper in order to deny the Hammers space in behind.
The Black Cats may start in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Lee Cattermole and Yann M’Vila as the holding midfielders while Ola Toivonen provides a target for long balls as the central attacking midfielder.
Adam Johnson and Jeremain Lens will probably continue as wide attacking midfielders but Fabio Borini, who started at Manchester United last weekend, could give way to Defoe up top.
West Ham are expected to adopt a similar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate as the central midfielders alternating in terms of breaking forward from the base of midfield to support play through the middle.
Dimitri Payet should be the number 10, aiming to create chances through the middle, while Manuel Lanzini drifts inside from the flank to join the former Marseille playmaker.
Victor Moses is likely to offer width in attack as an inverted winger on the left flank, while Diafra Sakho completes the offensive formation as the centre forward.
This will be an interesting game because West Ham have not been performing well in games like this one, while Sunderland have been poor all season. West Ham have the momentum but the Black Cats have the greater need for points.
Score prediction
Sunderland 1-1 West Ham United
