Leeds United vs West Ham United

The two out-of-form sides are set to trade tackles at Elland Road as Leeds United and West Ham United meet in a bottom-half Premier League contest.

Leeds United stood firm at St James’ Park on New Year’s Eve, holding Newcastle United to a scoreless draw, accounting for their first Premier League clean sheet since the start of October. Winless in three straight league matches ahead of this round (D1, L2), the ‘Whites’ are not in good shape to defy an underwhelming Premier League H2H record against West Ham (W1, L3) since returning to the top flight in 2020/21. Moreover, Jesse Marsch’s men have lost their last five Premier League encounters against London sides despite claiming the lead in three of them. Another loss here would see them make an unwanted piece of history, and after conceding a club-high 35 home league goals in 2022, it’s hard to make a strong case for them to get back on the rails.

It’s not like things are going any better in the West Ham camp, as after losing 2-0 to Brentford last time out, they head into proceedings on the back of five consecutive Premier League defeats! With the ‘Hammers’ flirting with the relegation zone, level on points with 18th-placed Nottingham Forest, under-pressure manager David Moyes could be counting his final days at the helm of West Ham. But since his men have won their last three away league matches against Yorkshire sides, there’s a glimmer of hope. Two of those victories came at the expense of Leeds, who had a 1-0 lead on both occasions. Prone to kicking things off ferociously, the ‘Irons’ have won their opening Premier League outing in each of the last three calendar years.