Burnley vs West Ham United
Date: 30/12/2018
K/O: 14:15
Venue: Turf Moor
Referee: David Coote
West Ham United travel to Turf Moor on Sunday with the hosts hoping to end the year on a high after a bitterly disappointing first half of the season.
Burnley have lost their last three matches including a 5-1 thumping on Boxing Day at the hands of Everton and recent talk around Lancashire has mentioned the future of Sean Dyche, with the club currently situated in the relegation zone and three points from safety.
As for the visitors, they recovered from their disappointing defeat to Watford by beating Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s. This result lifted them into the top half of the table and considering their beginning to the season where they lost their first four games, Pellegrini and his men must be pleased with their recovery since then.
Pellegrini has also shown that he is still the Christmas magician – possessing the best festive period record of any Premier League manager. The Hammers have won five of their last six games, gaining 15 points in the process and another victory at Turf Moor would represent a remarkable festive period for them.
Team News
Burnley are finally seeing some good news on the injury front as only three players will be missing for the visit of West Ham. Nick Pope is one of those still on the injury list as the England international continues to recover from a dislocated shoulder. This means that Joe Hart will continue in the Burnley goal and while the latter has made more saves in the league than any other goalkeeper, he has also conceded more than any other man between the sticks which is causing Dyche numerous headaches.
Burnley will also be without outfielders Stephan Ward and Steven Defour. Ward is currently closing in on his return from a niggling knee injury and this is similar to Defour, who recovered from a knee injury sustained in pre-season but has now picked up a minor setback and will return to the team in a couple of weeks.
Manuel Pellegrini will be looking to rotate his team as the current squad could be starting to tire due to the festive duties. Against Southampton, the Chilean was only able to name six substitutes rather than the allocated seven which highlights the problems in the injury department for the Hammers. Against Southampton, there were as many as 10 first-team players missing.
Yet fortunately, signs of life have started to show; Javier Hernandez and Maro Arnautovic are both nearing a return and could be fit for the trip to Burnley. Fabian Balbuena, on the other hand, will miss out yet could return for the Brighton fixture in the New Year.
West Ham will still have to wait for the returns of Andriy Yarmolenko, Winston Reid, Jack Wilshere, Ryan Fredericks and Carlos Sanchez. There is some good news from the long-term injury list though with Manuel Lanzini, who was expected to miss the entire season, expected to resume training in February.
Predicted Starting XIs
Burnley (5-3-2): Hart; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Gibson, Taylor; Westwood, Cork, Hendrick; Vokes, Barnes.
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Diop, Antonio; Rice, Noble; Anderson, Snodgrass, Diangana; Carroll.
Prediction: Burnley 1 West Ham 3
West Ham will be wanting to end December with six wins in seven games and a place firmly inside the top half. The Hammers have been in terrific goalscoring form and there is no better time to come up against one of the worst defences in the league. Burnley have conceded 41 goals this season and Joe Hart has kept that lower than it probably should be and West Ham will be looking to exploit this as Anderson looks to continue his impressive debutant season in the Premer League.
The reverse fixture saw plenty of goals in a 4-2 win for the Hammers and in current form, the Hammers should come away with three points once more.
