Paul Merson has predicted the scoreline and winner as Manchester United play host to West Ham United at Old Trafford.
The Manchester outfit are coming off a comeback victory against high-flying Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and will be looking to make it two wins on the bounce.
West Ham United, after decent results against Burnley and Bournemouth, suffered a 2-0 defeat at home against an out-of-form Liverpool side on Sunday.
Paul Merson predicts Manchester United to beat West Ham United
Paul Merson expects there to be goals as the Red Devils welcome the Hammers on Thursday night.
He has predicted the home side will pick up the win and backs them to beat Nuno Espirito Santo’s men by a 3-1 scoreline.
The former Arsenal forward has lauded Manchester United for coming back from a goal down to beat Palace over the weekend.
In his view, they did not play well in the first half and deserved to go down, but he credited them for the fight shown in the next 45 minutes.
Merson did not go in-depth with his analysis of West Ham United and only said that he does not fancy them to get points from this one.
He told Sportskeeda: “It was a great result for Manchester United against Crystal Palace. They never really troubled Palace in the first half and conceded the opening goal. But credit to United, they changed it up in the second half and got the result.
“Like I said before, I thought they were quite poor in that loss to Everton. This performance was much better in comparison.
“I’m expecting goals, goals and more goals in this game. I don’t expect West Ham to cause them major problems. Manchester United need some consistency and they will hope this result can spring them in the right direction.”
How can Nuno Espirito Santo win the tactical battle against Ruben Amorim?
Nuno Espirito Santo changed his system from a back three to a back four against Liverpool.
While it worked in the first half, once players started getting tired in the second, cracks began to appear in the side.
He may revert to a back three and go man-to-man with Manchester United as they play the same system.
They have been one of the league’s best from set plays, so there is a chance that Tomas Soucek starts this one to give them aerial solidity.
Lucas Paqueta will be a big miss, and Crysencio Summerville may not return in time for this one, so George Earthy may start for West Ham.
Making these tweaks gives Nuno the best chance of getting something from the game.
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