The background
West Ham United make the long journey to Sunderland this Saturday for their latest Barclays Premier League assignment
Sunderland are currently propping up the top flight table and are without a win from their first seven games.
In fact it has been a miserable start to the 2015/16 campaign for the north east as a whole, as Sunderland and Newcastle are the only two teams yet to taste success this term.
As a result, Dick Advocaat’s men are eleven points and 17 places worse off than the Hammers at this early stage, and the visitors will be hoping to maintain their 100 percent away record.
Having seen off Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, a trip to Sunderland might look easier on paper, but Slaven Bilic will be having none of that as his team travel to the Stadium of Light.
As for Sunderland, their two points have come from draws with Swansea City and Aston Villa, while Leicester, Norwich, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Manchester United have all triumphed against the Black Cats this term.
The history
Saturday’s game will be the 89th meeting between the Hammers and Sunderland, and it is West Ham who have the edge with 34 victories to the Black Cats’ 31.
In recent times, West Ham have won two of the last three games – a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light in 2013/14 thanks to goals from Andy Carroll and Mohamed Diame, and a 1-0 success at the Boleyn Ground last term, with Diafra Sakho on target.
Before then West Ham had gone five games without victory against Sunderland, so they will certainly be looking at that last three game spell for inspiration this weekend.
Sunderland include former Hammer Jermain Defoe in their ranks. Defoe scored 41 goals in 105 games for West Ham, and has notched nine times in 26 matches since joining the Black Cats.
Match info
Team news
West Ham United
Slaven Bilic will make a late check on Winston Reid, who has been nursing a slight problem in his hip area.
Angelo Ogbonna remains out with a hamstring injury, while Andy Carroll missed training in the early part of this week with a minor ankle problem.
Alex Song and Enner Valencia continue to make good progress in their injury rehabilitation but are unavailable on Saturday.
Sunderland
Midfielder Jack Rodwell is expected to recover from the ankle injury which forced him to miss last weekend’s defeat to Manchester United in time for Saturday.
Meanwhile, former West Ham striker Jermain Defoe could be recalled up front as the Black Cats look for their first win of the season.
Match info
- Saturday’s referee will be Neil Swarbrick. He will be assisted by Scott Ledger and Eddie Smart. Craig Pawson is the fourth official.
- West Ham are undefeated in their last four league meetings with Sunderland (W2 D2).
- Diafra Sakho’s 88th minute goal secured victory for the Hammers in the last meeting, which also happened to be Dick Advocaat’s first game in charge of Sunderland.
- West Ham have the best away record in the Premier League this season, having won all three games at the cost of just one goal conceded.
- Should they win on Saturday, the Hammers will record a fourth consecutive away win in the same Premier League season for the first time.
- Sunderland have the worst defensive record in the division, having conceded 16 goals.
- The Black Cats have won only four of their 26 league games in 2015, scoring just 21 goals.
Ticketing, travel, coverage and other info
- A limited number of tickets will be available at the Stadium of Light for Hammers supporters. Click here for full information.
- Saturday looks like being a dry, if dull day on Wearside. Temperatures are on the autumnal side, with a high of 11C (52F) at kick-off.
- Click here for the latest travel news on the roads and here on the railways.
- If you’re not heading to the game, our digital channels are where to stay up to date with all the latest news. Our whufc.com match centre will have live audio, stats, photos and more, while you can get involved with the conversation on social using the hashtag #SUNWHU
- For fans making the trip to the north east, Sunderland have launched a brand new fanzone outside their East Stand this season. Including bars, food stalls, football games and FIFA for the kids, live music from top bands across the North East and player appearances pre-match and post-match, it will be open three hours before kick-off and is open an hour after the game too.