West Ham United will be hoping that they can carry on their recent good form, but will find it tough when they take on fellow inform side West Brom at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Closing the gap

The Hammers had a poor start to the campaign,but they seem to be back on rise with six victories in their last nine Premier League matches.

They had a big bump in the road last Wednesday with the 4-0 defeat to Manchester City, but bounced back again when they travelled to the South Coast to take on Southampton.

It looked to be another poor afternoon with Manolo Gabbiadini's early opener, but goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang, and Mark Noble gave them an impressive 3-1 victory.

There are five points between these two sides ahead of kick-off, and Slaven Bilic will be looking to close the gap on the Baggies.

Defying expectations

Many will have expected West Brom to struggle this season, but Tony Pulis’ side have defied many people’s expectations with a excellent campaign.

The Baggies currently sit in eighth, with ten victories and six draws to their name, and have remained unbeaten in their last three encounters.

That continued last Saturday when they welcomed Mark Hughes’ Stoke City to The Hawthorns, with a single goal from James Morrison giving them a narrow 1-0 victory.

Pulis will be looking to close the four-point gap on seventh-placed Everton, and will be hopeful that they can replicate their 4-2 victory over the Hammers back in September.

Team news

Bilic will be sweating over the fitness of inform striker Carroll, who has picked up a minor groin injury but Bilic is optimistic that the striker who has four goals in as many games will be included in the squad.

Bilic will also need to check on the fitness of both Aaron Cresswell and Cheikhou Kouyate who have a tight hamstring and dead leg respectively, while Sam Byram and Havard Nordtveit are back in contention.

Jonny Evans could make a welcome return to Pulis’ side having missed the last five games, Claudio Yacob is also back in contention having missed last week’s victory having been hospitalised with stomach cramps.

West Ham United will host West Bromwich Albion at the London Stadium on Saturday, February 11 with kick-off at 3pm GMT.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.