Paul Merson has predicted West Ham to suffer a defeat against Manchester United in midweek when the two teams clash in the Premier League.
The Hammers go into the Thursday night game knowing that their top-flight status has been secured for another season and now have just two games remaining in this campaign.
David Moyes’ side won away at Leicester City 2-0 at the weekend and can have a free crack at the London Stadium against Man United.
Jose Mourinho’s team know that they need just one more point to guarantee second in the league table, but eyes appear to be turned towards their FA Cup final with Chelsea on 19 May.
Sky Sports pundit Merson has tipped West Ham to slip to a 1-0 defeat at the weekend, but feels the game means a lot more to the visitors.
“No game is a dead rubber when you play for Man Utd, everyone wants to beat them,” Merson wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
“And United need to start getting going as it is a bit worrying for them.
West Ham have gone great, but I have to go for a response here and I would be shocked if there was not one, so I am going to go 2-1 United.
“They cannot go into the Cup final playing like this – you can’t just turn it on and off like a tap.”
OPINION
Moyes set out with the aim to keep West Ham in the Premier League following his mid-season appointment and he has delivered on that with two games to spare. The Hammers need to think long and hard about the direction the club are going to move forward in during future years, but you can’t begrudge Moyes for his work recently. West Ham now have two fixtures remaining that are free swings for them in a sense, but they will want to finish the campaign on a high with two home matches. They end the season with a dead rubber against mid-table Everton at the London Stadium, with the Man United clash just three days earlier. A number of senior players stepped up to the fore in the crucial victory over Leicester last weekend and the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Angelo Ogbonna and Mark Noble were at the very heart of the three points.
