Manchester United have a problem. While currently sitting in sixth place in the Premier League, the group occupying the top five places are five points ahead of them and threatening to start pulling further away, while the bottom half of the table is the same number of points behind them. With West Ham United visiting Old Trafford, United need a win in a bad, bad way, or else they’ll risk starting to fall too far behind the leaders and dropping too close to the wrong end of the table.
Manchester United vs. West Ham 2016: Time, live stream, TV schedule, and 3 things to know
Manchester United need a win to keep from falling too far behind the pack at the top of the EPL table, but West Ham can’t afford to dip closer the relegation zone.
Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Of course, things aren’t much better for West Ham. Injuries and poor form have seen one of the most fun teams in the EPL from a season ago reduced to battling against relegation, sitting one spot above the drop zone 12 matches into the season. They’ve struggled all year long, and no matter what they’ve tried they’ve never been able to establish a solid run of form. They need something to kick them into high gear again, and a win over United could do just that -- but first they need to earn that win, and that will be a lot easier said than done.
TV: NBCSN (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: NBC Sports Live (U.S.)
Match Date/Time: day, 11:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. local
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
Three big things to know
- With Manchester’s first-choice pairing in central defense out thanks to injuries to Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, the pressure will be on for Phil Jones and Daley Blind. Both have been wildly inconsistent players over the last couple of years, but under the circumstances they need to step up in a big, big way. Hopefully they rise to the occasion, because if they crack under the pressure this could be a painful day for United.
- Speaking of injuries, West Ham are in rough shape. Andy Carroll, Gokhan Tore, Sam Byram, Reece Oxford, Arthur Masuaku, and Winston Reid are all unavailable, leaving them thin at virtually every position. It’s going to be a rough battle for Slaven Bilic’s team to try to overcome the odds in this match, but he’s never been one to back down from a fight — he just has to hope that his team has enough gas in the tank to get the job done.
- Here’s a question: is Jose Mourinho ever going to make much use of Henrikh Mkhitaryan? The Armenian international was a big-money purchase this summer after making a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund over the last few years, but has hardly seen the pitch at all for Manchester United. Despite that, his creative ability and flair for making the right decision in the right moment in the final third is something that United need more of right now, and it would be good to see him spending more time on the pitch. This match would be a good chance for him to get that start and real chance to make an impression that he needs, and if Mkhitaryan is given that opportunity, you know he’ll do everything he can to seize it.
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