We look ahead to Thursday’s Premier League game at Old Trafford with our Man Utd vs West Ham prediction and preview. The Hammers are seeking a third straight win against United.
Man Utd vs West Ham: The Key Stats
Manchester United are expected to claim three points at home, winning 56.7% of the Opta supercomputer’s 10,000 pre-match simulations.
West Ham won this fixture 2-0 last season, ending a 16-game winless run away to United in the Premier League.
The Red Devils have lost nine of their last 14 Premier League matches in the month of December (W4 D1), including the last three without scoring.
Manchester United got back to winning ways against Crystal Palace at the weekend and are looking to continue that momentum at home against West Ham, whom they have struggled against in recent seasons.
The Hammers did the league double over United last term, though the visitors come into this match after Liverpool snapped their three-game unbeaten streak on Sunday.
United are a slightly different proposition to the one West Ham got the better of last season, too, having lost just one of their last seven league games (W4 D2). Albeit that was a frustrating 1-0 defeat to 10-man Everton in their last home outing.
Ruben Amorim’s side had briefly made Old Trafford a hard place to visit before that, winning four consecutive games on home soil prior to their humbling by Everton, but the United boss has now lost nine of his 19 Premier League games at the stadium (W8 D2).
Man Utd 0-1 Everton in Premier League
Should they lose this match, Amorim would reach 10 top-flight home defeats faster than any other United manager – the current fastest is 23 games by AH Albut between 1892 and 1894.
December has not favoured United over the past few years either; they have lost nine of their last 14 league matches in the final month of the year (W4 D1), including each of the last three without scoring.
Prior to that run, they’d been unbeaten in 15 games in December (W12 D3), form Amorim will be keen to replicate.
It does help that United are unbeaten in their last 17 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League home games (W14 D3), winning the last eight.
West Ham, meanwhile, have wrongs of their own that they’ll want to put right. They are aiming to bounce back from their home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, which was compounded by Lucas Paquetá’s avoidable red card for dissent.
Since a 3-0 win over Nuno Espírito Santo’s Nottingham Forest in August, West Ham are winless in their last four away games (D2 L2), all of which have come under the Portuguese head coach since he replaced Graham Potter.
The last Hammers boss to fail to win any of his first five away games was Avram Grant back in 2010 (his first nine away games).
West Ham had looked set to end that run in their last game on the road, only to let a two-goal lead slip against Bournemouth in a 2-2 draw.
Key for them will be captain Jarrod Bowen, who scored in both of West Ham’s league meetings with United last season – the last Hammers player to score in three in a row against them was Jermain Defoe (2001-2002).
Jarrod Bowen's Premier League shots since start of October
However, Bowen hasn’t hit the back of the net since the end of September, when he scored against Everton. He has gone seven games without a goal, despite having 16 shots worth 0.9 expected goals (xG) since.
He is not the only player looking to end a goal drought of sorts, though. Bruno Fernandes has played more Premier League games vs West Ham without scoring than against any other club (11), having 27 shots against them without success.
Fernandes is still likely to have his say in front of goal, however, having set up both goals against Palace on Sunday, bringing him to 56 assists for United in the competition.
And, in the continued absence of the injured Benjamin Sesko, Joshua Zirkzee found his shooting boots against the Eagles, scoring his first league goal since netting a brace against Everton in December 2024, ending a run of 364 days without hitting the back of the net. The Dutchman is likely to lead the line again.
Man Utd vs West Ham Head-to-Head
Man Utd have lost four of their last five Premier League games against West Ham (W1), more than they had in the 28 beforehand (W19 D6 L3).
And West Ham won this exact fixture 2-0 last season, ending a 16-game winless run away to United in the top flight (D3 L13).
They’ve not won consecutive league visits to Old Trafford since March 1934. And the Hammers have not won three in a row against them since between December 2006 and December 2007.
Man Utd vs West Ham Prediction
Despite their recent struggles against West Ham, Man Utd are expected to win on Thursday, coming out on top in 56.7% of the supercomputer’s pre-match simulations.
West Ham got back to winning ways in 20.9% of those, while 22.4% ended in a draw.
Man Utd vs West Ham Prediction
Man Utd vs West Ham Predicted Lineups
Man Utd: Senne Lammens, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw, Amad Diallo, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Patrick Dorgu, Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee.
Head coach: Ruben Amorim
West Ham: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Igor Julio, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Freddie Potts, Mateus Fernandes, Jarrod Bowen, Luis Guilherme, Callum Wilson.
Head coach: Nuno Espírito Santo
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world, and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Thursday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
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