Charlie Nicholas predicts that West Ham will beat Sheffield United 2-1 when the two sides clash at the London Stadium on Saturday.
The Sky Sports pundit believes that the Hammers will be angry following their 2-0 defeat to Everton ahead of backing them to win.
Nicholas raved about Sheffield United following their 1-0 win over Arsenal but avoided backing them to win due to the fact they don’t score many.
“This is a decent game between two teams with good energy when they are at it,” Nicholas wrote on Sky Sports.
“We have been complementing West Ham – Manuel Pellegrini has been clever – but they went to Everton and everyone to a man was poor.
“Sheffield United, as we saw against Arsenal, are very good in their shape and in energy and togetherness.
“They are always at you, with four or five runners too.
“They have no real star qualities as individuals, but everybody buys into Chris Wilder’s plan – it is raw honesty and desire that gets them there.
“The Blades don’t score many, though, and I think West Ham will be angry after last week.”
OPINION
Nicholas listed several reasons why West Ham should be wary of Sheffield United, focusing on the club’s hard-working ethic, then bizarrely tipped the Hammers. This is the case even though the pundit revealed he was disappointed by the way the Hammers lost to Everton. Yet it seems Nicholas is willing to bank on Manuel Pellegrini getting a reaction from his side, and every Hammers fan will be crossing their fingers the pundit is right to have this belief. West Ham were outclassed by Everton as the Toffees have double the amount on shots on goal and Marco Silva’s side never looked like losing. It was also worrying how poor the Hammers were when the ball was at their feet as they only completed 68% of their passes, as per Google stats, and that’s unacceptable for a Premier League team. While every side is entitled to a bad day at the office, after such a promising start, it’ll be frustratingly typical if the Hammers start dropping the ball and undo all their good work.
