West Ham United take on Fulham at the London Stadium on Friday night.
The Hammers take on the Cottagers in the opening game of the weekend as the Premier League resumes.
West Ham have not won for five games but have earned respectable draws in their last two games against Crystal Palace and Liverpool.
Ahead of the game the East Londoners sit 10th knowing they could move just three points off seventh with a victory.
Manuel Pellegrini has been nursing a league-worst injury list.
Injury situation improving
But things look to be improving ahead of the visit of the lowly Cottagers.
West Ham will be boosted by the return of key players from long-term injury for the game.
Manuel Lanzini, Samir Nasri and Fabian Balbuena look set to come back into the squad.
A home game against relegation candidates who have not won away all season and have the Premier League’s worst ever defensive record should point to a Hammers win.
But West Ham have proved on multiple occasions this season they often struggle to raise their game for matches against so-called lesser teams.
Sky Sports pundits Paul Merson and BBC Sport’s Mark Lawrenson are in agreement over the outcome, though.
Merson says 3-1
Both predict a West Ham triumph, while also highlighting the bad points about Pellegrini’s side.
Speaking on Premier League Daily, Merson highlighted West Ham’s inconsistency as an issue.
But he still doesn’t give Fulham a hope.
“Fulham are in the must-win saloon but they are letting in goals for fun, and I don’t see anything except a victory for West Ham,” Merson said in his column on Sky Sports where he predicts a 3-1 home win.
“It’s hard for Fulham to go somewhere and keep clean sheets and they also aren’t the highest scoring team, so I don’t see them getting anything here.
“I can’t see Fulham surviving; defensively, they are not going to keep enough clean sheets. They are behind the eight-ball and the more they have to chase games, the more vulnerable they are going to be. I don’t give them a chance.”
Lawro highlights Hammers inconsistency
Lawrenson told BBC Sport West Ham will win 2-0 but he too highlighted their big problem.
“Manuel Lanzini could make his first appearance of the season for West Ham after a long injury lay-off and another creative player, Samir Nasri, has a chance of being fit too,” Lawro said on BBC Sport.
“Fulham had a couple of good early chances in their last game, against Manchester United on 9 February, but ended up well beaten.
“West Ham are inconsistent but, even if they have a bad day, it is hard to make much of a case for a Fulham side who are yet to win on the road in the league this season, and have the worst away record in the Premier League.”
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