West Ham should look to take advantage of weakened Man Utd

West Ham travel to Man Utd in what could be considered yet another cup final as they continue their hunt for Europe.

Coming off the back of a victory against Leeds on Monday night in what can only be described as a professional performance, the Hammers should be high on confidence as they sit just two points off the top four with a game in hand.

So how does David Moyes approach this match having only picked up one point from their previous five fixtures away to the “big six” this season?

Many are still predicting that West Ham will eventually fall away, but the Irons are showing no signs of stopping as they march on.

Looking back at those games and applying context to them, whilst just a solitary point may seem bad, the games in isolation don’t really reflect that disappointing tally.

West Ham lost 2-1 away against Arsenal to a late goal despite dominating the match for large periods, as well as having a large penalty appeal turned down.

The lone point that they did manage to pick up was in the dramatic comeback against Tottenham, which highlighted the spirit and never-say-die attitude that Moyes and his staff have installed within the squad.

Losses also came against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man City, respectively, despite the Hammers more than matching each of those sides for 90 minutes.

With this in mind, West Ham may believe that they are due a win against one of the big boys and, against a depleted Man Utd team on Sunday, this could be their best chance.

It is possible that Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani all could miss the match which is arguably Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice front three when all are fit and firing.

This takes away a lot of attacking talent and proficiency from the Red Devil’s team which could, in turn, allow Moyes to reverse the roles and show a level of offensive capability that he failed to show in the FA Cup tie between the two teams back in February.

Another difference between that lacklustre match and this upcoming fixture is the return of Michail Antonio who was absent for the aforementioned clash. The Irons clearly missed him during that affair as his endeavour and work-rate was sorely lacking whilst the absence his hold-up play and threat in behind made the Man Utd defender’s lives much more simple.

Despite this, after 90 minutes the score was still tied at 0-0, and it was only during extra-time that the home side managed to find a breakthrough, meaning if there was to be a repeat of that score line this time around, the Hammers would leave Old Trafford with a respectable point.

Taking into account the said injuries to Solskjaer’s side and the form of West Ham, however, there is no reason that the Moyes’ men should not be at least targeting maximum points which would close the gap between them and their opponents in second place to just three points.

It would be another triumph closer to the impossible as the Hammers continue to mix it up among the Premier League elite in their quest for Champions League qualification.