West Ham vs Stoke City
Venue: Upton Park
Kick off: 3pm
Nigerian international, Victor Moses, is expected back in action on Saturday (today) as his Stoke City side travels to the Upton Park to battle West Ham United.
Moses is available again after missing out against his parent club, Chelsea, last weekend.
With just seven matches of the Premier League campaign remaining, West Ham United and Stoke City head into fixture having recorded 42 points from their 31 matches to leave them in ninth and 10th place respectively.
Two wins in 11 in the league and a 4-0 thrashing in the FA Cup by West Bromwich Albion have left Sam Allardyce in danger of being removed from his position at the club, and even a positive end to the campaign might not be enough to save the former Bolton Wanderers chief.
Their current position of ninth is respectable, but with the club’s owners reportedly looking elsewhere to try to progress to the next level, Allardyce may enhance his chances of a job elsewhere with a strong finish over the next seven games.
West Ham have already achieved two points more than they did during the whole of last season, but unless they can make it to 50 points, the Upton Park dugout could be occupied by a new boss in August.
The Stoke City hierarchy were that impressed with Mark Hughes’s spell at the Britannia Stadium that they tied him down to a new deal at the club, but three successive defeats have threatened to ruin what has been another impressive campaign.
Stoke have been relatively solid at the back, with just six goals being conceded in as many games, but they need to find another gear if they are to register their highest-ever finish of eighth place in the top flight.
Their run-in could have been worse, but it’s games such as the one at Upton Park in which Stoke need to produce a performance or else their season could slip away during the final seven fixtures.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Adrian, Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell, Song, Nolan, Kouyate, Downing, Valencia, Sakho
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Muniesa, Wilson, Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam, Moses, Walters, Diouf.
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