Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has predicted that West Ham United will overcome Macclesfield in their League Cup third round clash on Wednesday.
The Hammers welcome the League Two outfit to the London Stadium later this week after defeating AFC Wimbledon in the second round of the competition a few weeks ago.
The Irons claimed a point against Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League, which now brings them up to four after the stalemate – and Goodman has predicted a resounding 3-0 win for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
In his predictions for the Sky Sports website, Goodman said: “Macclesfield’s form in League Two has not been good but they have absolutely nothing to lose and can enjoy going to a big stadium and playing against a Premier League team.
“West Ham are under a bit less pressure after a couple of good results in the Premier League and they should be too strong regardless of the team they put out.”
OPINION
It would be surprising to not see West Ham thump Macclesfield in this clash, but it must be remembered that they made hard work of beating AFC Wimbledon in the last round for the majority of the game. They went 1-0 down, and had to claw their way back in order to progress in the competition. Anything can happen in the Cup, but seeming as Macclesfield’s form is not too great in the fourth tier at the moment, it does not seem likely that they are going to pull of a shock victory on Wednesday night. Manuel Pellegrini is likely to field a slightly weakened team to face their League Two opponents, but they should not have much trouble to contend with against Macclesfield. Getting through to the next round will do wonders for the team’s confidence, especially going into a tough clash with Manchester United this weekend. Pellegrini will save his best players for the match with the Red Devils, but they will still inflict some damage on the opposition here.
