West Ham United continue their 2020/21 Premier League season with a trip to second-place Manchester United on Sunday evening.
The Hammers travel to Manchester for the third time in less than five weeks, having visited Old Trafford for an Emirates FA Cup fifth round tie on 9 February and Manchester City for a Premier League fixture on 27 February.
The Irons will be hoping for better than those previous visits, which both ended in defeats, and hoping to secure just their third win in 25 Premier League visits to the Theatre of Dreams, and first since Carlos Tevez's memorable Great Escape-clinching winner in May 2007.
Just as they did ahead of the reverse fixture at London Stadium in December, which ended in a 3-1 Manchester United win, West Ham begin the weekend fifth in the table.
A win over Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side could take the Hammers above fourth-place Chelsea, who travel to Leeds United on Saturday lunchtime, and to within three points of Manchester United.
With the country in national lockdown, Sunday's game will be played without supporters present. However, the match will be screened live in the UK by Sky Sports and across the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
Team news
West Ham United will be without Arthur Masuaku, who is continuing his recovery after undergoing knee surgery, and Jesse Lingard, who is unable to play against his parent club under the terms of his loan.
Angelo Ogbonna is still out with the ankle injury he suffered in the FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford in February, as is Andriy Yarmolenko with the knee injury he suffered in the same tie.
Darren Randolph (hip) and Ryan Fredericks (groin) have both been recovering at Rush Green.
Manchester United have a number of concerns.
Forwards Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford (ankle) and Anthony Martial (hip) are all out, as is defender Phil Jones (knee), while goalkeeper David De Gea, midfielders Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek and Juan Mata are all doubts.
The opposition – Manchester United
Manchester United's season has been something of a conundrum.
The Red Devils won just two of their opening six Premier League matches, including a humiliating 6-1 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur and other Old Trafford reverses at the hands of Crystal Palace and Arsenal, and were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stage.
However, Manchester United have since lost just one of 22 Premier League matches, reached the UEFA Europa League Round of 16, FA Cup sixth round and were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Manchester City at the semi-final stage.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side go into the weekend second in the table, but trail leaders and local rivals City by 14 points.
Realistically, they could still end the season with two trophies to add to their bulging cabinet, yet the narrative remains that Manchester United are underachieving.
So, you can see, Manchester United's season has been something of a conundrum
Previous meetings
West Ham United and Manchester United meet in the Premier League for the 50th time on Sunday evening.
The visitors have had the best of things by far down the years, winning 29 of the 49 previous meetings, while the Hammers have won seven, with 13 draws.
Of those seven wins, two have come at Old Trafford, the first courtesy of Jermain Defoe's winner in December 2001 and the second via the right boot of Carlos Tevez in May 2007.
David Moyes has faced Manchester United 30 times during his managerial career, 24 of them with Everton, two with Sunderland and four with West Ham United, winning four, drawing seven and losing 19.
Moyes also managed Manchester United 51 times during the 2013/14 season, winning 26, drawing ten and losing 15, including home and away Premier League victories over West Ham.
By the numbers
10 Sir Geoff Hurst scored ten of his 249 career goals for West Ham United against Manchester United – more than any other Hammer. Among those ten, Sir Geoff netted in the FA Cup semi-final win over the Red Devils at Hillsborough in March 1964, and twice in a 3-2 First Division win over United at the Boleyn Ground on 30 April 1966 – his final home appearance before winning the FIFA World Cup with England!
5-1 West Ham United scored their biggest-ever Football League or Premier League win over Manchester United on 11 October 1930, when Vivian Gibbins (pictured, below) netted a hat-trick in a 5-1 First Division victory at the Boleyn Ground. Jim Barrett and Jimmy Ruffell were also on target.
18 No fewer than four players made their West Ham United debuts for against Manchester United at London Stadium on the opening day of the 2017/18 season – Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and former Red Devil Chicharito. In all, 18 players have debuted for the Hammers against the Red Devils, including Boy of ’86 Neil Orr (January 1982), goalkeeper and Hammer of the Year Lawrie Leslie (August 1961), 1964 FA Cup winner Eddie Bovington (April 1960) and, of course, the late, great Bobby Moore OBE in September 1958.
1911 The first-ever meeting between the two clubs was on 25 February 1911, when West Ham United – then of the Southern League First Division – defeated Manchester United of Football League Division One 2-1 in the FA Cup third round. A 27,000-strong crowd were at the Boleyn Ground to see Danny Shea score the winner!
£170,000 Ted MacDougall became West Ham United’s record signing when he was transferred to the Boleyn Ground from Manchester United for £170,000 in the spring of 1973. A prolific scorer with York City and AFC Bournemouth in the lower divisions, Inverness-born MacDougall made just 26 appearances in Claret and Blue, scoring seven goals, before joining Norwich City just before Christmas the same year.
Match officials
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick and Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth Official: Craig Pawson
VAR: Jonathan Moss
Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn
Born in the village of Drighlington, midway between Leeds and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in March 1971, Martin Atkinson began refereeing at the age of 16.
He joined the Football League as an assistant referee aged 27, in 1998, before being promoted to the national list of referees five years later.
Atkinson refereed his first Premier League game, Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Birmingham City, in April 2005.
The following year, 2006, he was appointed to the FIFA list of international referees.
Atkinson has officiated a number of high-profile matches, including the 2011 FA Cup final, 2014 EFL Cup final, UEFA Champions League and international matches, including being England’s representative at UEFA Euro 2016.
The 49-year-old has referred West Ham United on 55 occasions, including the 3-2 win over Chelsea and 3-1 win over Watford at London Stadium in July 2020 and the 4-0 home victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in September.
