West Ham travel to Bramall Lane in search of continuing their winning form

The Hammers will look to continue their winning run under new manager David Moyes as they try to steer themselves away from relegation.

Last time out in the league, the Blades were unable to stop current league leaders Liverpool and fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Reds. Goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah secured a vital three points for Liverpool.

West Ham on the other hand started their 2020 very well. Under new manager David Moyes they were able to beat Bournemouth 4-0. A brace from Mark Noble gave West Ham a strong foundation to build on with Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson adding goals to give the Hammers a comfortable win in-front of their home crowd.

Team news

Sheffield United are expected to welcome back a host of regulars after making 11 changes in the FA Cup.

Simon Moore is set to return to the bench following a muscular injury, but fellow goalkeeper Michael Verrips is unavailable because of concussion.

West Ham defender Ryan Fredericks has been sidelined for up to six weeks with a hamstring issue, while Michail Antonio remains out.

Mark Noble and Aaron Creswell are in contention following injury.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder says he is expecting a different test against West Ham United under David Moyes on Friday night, than the one his side faced in the reverse meeting earlier in the season.

“It will be a different type of game to the one in London. There’s a different manager, a different message going into the players. They had a fabulous performance and result in their first game and then won away in the FA Cup.

“Looking at the manager’s CV and what he’s done, David Moyes is a hugely-respected figure in the game. His record from Preston to Everton for all those years was incredible – Everton were top six continually.

“The vast majority of his career he has been successful. With the attributes that he will bring to a talented group of players, I wouldn’t bet against them staying up.

“We will be playing a West Ham team that has designs on climbing the table and I’m sure they will do that under David Moyes.”

David Moyes spoke about the injection of confidence that recent results have provided, to transfer speculation, and from the ‘new manager effect’ to Chris Wilder and the Blades, read on for the manager’s thoughts…

“First and foremost, Friday’s is an incredibly difficult game, but I think we’ve just started to gain a little bit of confidence from our results. I hope we can show that in our performance.

“I think we did a really professional job at Gillingham in the Cup to get through, and I thought we played well against Bournemouth. Scoring four goals and not conceding any for us was really important.

“We’ll be put to another test against Sheffield United. The manager and Sheffield United have done remarkably well [so far this season] and it’ll be tough.”

Head-to-head

Sheffield United were victorious in both of their previous Premier League home games against West Ham: 3-0 in April 2007 and 3-2 in March 1994. West Ham have won only one of the past 13 top-flight away meetings (D2, L10).

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