West Ham v Watford team news and stats

Diafra Sakho: Suffers another injury

Diafra Sakho: Suffers another injury

West Ham will hope to improve on a dire recent run of results against Watford, but could be boosted by the return of Diafra Sakho for Wednesday evening’s Premier League clash at Upton Park.

Team news

Diafra Sakho could return to the West Ham squad.

The Senegal striker has recovered from the knee injury which forced him to miss Premier League draws with Arsenal and Leicester, as well as the midweek FA Cup defeat by Manchester United.

Boss Slaven Bilic therefore has a full-strength squad and could hand recalls to Sam Byram, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll, who climbed off the bench to score a penalty at Leicester on Sunday.

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores is planning to make a number of changes to his side.

The Hornets boss wants to keep his players as fresh as possible ahead of their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Sunday but intends to play the same shape as usual.

Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes is the only player confirmed to be in the starting XI for the game but Flores has a full squad to chose from with no injuries.

 

Opta stats

  • West Ham United have won just one of their last seven matches against Watford in all competitions (W1 D2 L4).
  • The Hornets have scored one goal in each of their last three visits to the Boleyn Ground, winning two and losing none of those visits.
  • Watford have scored just seven goals in their last 13 Premier League games and have averaged just three shots on target per game in this period (39 shots on target overall).
  • The Hornets have already won twice as many league away games this season (6) as in their two previous Premier League campaigns combined (3 in 1999-00 & 2006-07 combined).
  • There have been 23 goals scored in the last five Premier League games involving Slaven Bilic’s side, with West Ham both scoring and conceding at least twice in each game.
  • West Ham are unbeaten in eight successive games in the Premier League (W3 D5 L0), but the last four of these have been draws. They haven’t gone nine unbeaten in the top-flight since a run of 18 games between August-December 1985.
  • West Ham haven’t suffered a home league defeat since August 22nd 2015 and are currently on a 14-game unbeaten league run at the Boleyn Ground (W7 D7 L0). They have never gone 15 in a row there without defeat in the top-flight.
  • Dimtri Payet needs one more goal to become just the second West Ham midfielder to score 10+ goals in a Premier League season, after Kevin Nolan in 2012/13.
  • Andy Carroll has scored eight Premier League goals this season; his best return since 2010/11 (13). Indeed, Carroll has netted five goals in his last four league games.
  • Just seven different players have scored a goal for Watford in the Premier League this season (excl. own goals) – the lowest spread of any team in the competition.

 

Overall recent form

Recent League Form West Ham United Watford
Last five games DDDDW WDLLL

 

Managers records – All-time

All-time English Premier League Record P W D L GF GA GD PTS PTS/P
Slaven Bilic 33 13 14 6 54 42 12 53 1.61
Quique Sanchez Flores 33 11 8 14 32 37 -5 41 1.24