Derby County-West Ham is an FA Cup fourth-round match and is played on Monday at 8:45pm: odds, predictions, live TV and streaming.
Only the cups – in this case the FA Cup and Conference League – can save West Ham’s season. After two excellent seasons, in which the Hammers returned to the top ranks of the English top flight and also did well on international stages (last year they reached the semi-finals of the Europa League), in this one many things went wrong. And David Moyes’ men find themselves once again fighting not to be relegated. At the halfway point of the tournament they are just one point ahead of the red zone.
Premier League stay, however, should not be in question: the Londoners’ squad is equipped to achieve more ambitious goals than just salvation, and the feeling is that somehow Scamacca and his teammates will manage to find a way to get themselves out of trouble in the second half of the season. In the last direct clash with Everton, for example, the difference between them and the Toffees was stark: a 2-0 win at the London Stadium broke a six-day winning streak and gave the Hammers the chance to temporarily move out of the relegation zone. Moving up the Premier League table, we said, is the top priority at the moment. But Moyes will not take the FA Cup engagement, where a few weeks ago he beat Brentford at home thanks to a Benrahma goal, lightly. The Scottish coach will face the away match in Derby with the starters, with the exception of the unavailable Scamacca and Ings.
The Rams, one of the many noble lapses of English football, currently play in League One, the equivalent of our Serie C. They are trying to return at least to the top flight, and by virtue of a fine run of victories – five in a row – they are back in the playoff zone, eight points away from direct promotion. Derby County have not lost in the league since last October and in November only surrendered on penalties to Liverpool in the League Cup.
Derby County’s Mendez-Laing
The Prediction
In his press conference Moyes praised Paul Warne’s work on the Derby County bench, saying the Rams would be capable of putting many Premier League teams in trouble at the moment. It will not be an easy game, then, for West Ham: Hammers favourites but likely to concede at least one goal.
The Derby County-West Ham line-up probables
- DERBY COUNTY (4-2-3-1): Wildsmith; Smith, Davies, Forsyth, Roberts; Hourihane, Bird; Mendez-Laing, Knight, Dobbin; McGoldrick.
- WEST HAM (3-4-2-1): Fabianski; Zouma, Ogbonna, Aguerd; Coufal, Paqueta, Rice, Palmieri; Bowen, Benrahma; Antonio.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
