West Ham United and Norwich City return to Premier League action on Tuesday evening having booked their places in round four of the FA Cup.
David Moyes's side got the better of Leeds United 2-0 at the weekend, while the Canaries ran out 1-0 winners at Charlton Athletic.
Match preview
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Perhaps looking to translate their rapid rise into a long-awaited piece of silverware, West Ham were handed an all-Premier League tie against Leeds in the FA Cup but ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Marcelo Bielsa's men in the capital.
Manuel Lanzini ensured that David Moyes's men would go into half time one goal to the good, and a last-minute counter-attack ended with Jarrod Bowen finishing through Illan Meslier's legs to put the result beyond any doubt at the London Stadium.
That result marked West Ham's third win on the bounce in all competitions following goal-laden successes over Watford and Crystal Palace, with the European challengers now two for two in 2022 and firmly in contention for a top-four finish.
Moyes's men will temporarily rise above Arsenal into the Champions League spots with at least a point against the Canaries, but as things stand, Tottenham Hotspur are only one point adrift of the Hammers having played two games fewer.
A paltry tally of three wins from their last nine does not exactly embody that of a side harbouring ambitions of Champions League football, but West Ham have scored in all of their home games in the 2021-22 Premier League and will fancy their chances of keeping up that hot streak here.
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Amid their abysmal run in the Premier League, Norwich could not find a way through against League One outfit Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup, but the introduction of Milot Rashica from the bench saw the Kosovo international strike the all-important winner in the 79th minute.
Dean Smith's side will hardly expect a shot at glory in the FA Cup, but that result should at least give the Canaries a much-needed morale boost after a turbulent 2021 ended in the worst possible way for the relegation candidates.
The month of December saw Norwich suffer five consecutive Premier League defeats without scoring a single goal - and conceding 14 for good measure - while their proposed New Year's Day clash with Leicester City was postponed due to COVID-19.
Norwich find themselves one point behind Newcastle United at the foot of the division and are three points adrift of safety having played one game more than 17th-placed Burnley, while a tally of three goals on the road is unsurprisingly the worst in the division.
West Ham did the double over Norwich in the 2019-20 Premier League season - scoring six goals and conceding zero - and a 3-1 win at Carrow Road in 2013 represents Norwich's only success from their last 13 against the capital side.
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Team News
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West Ham attacker Said Benrahma is away with the Algeria team at the Africa Cup of Nations, but Moyes has no fresh injury concerns to deal with from the FA Cup weekend.
Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell and Kurt Zouma are set to remain absent for the hosts, but Moyes believes that Vladimir Coufal has a "good chance" of recovering from illness in time.
Ben Johnson and Arthur Masuaku should start in the full-back areas if Coufal does not make it, while Nikola Vlasic prepares to make way for Pablo Fornals on the left.
Meanwhile, Norwich are expected to be without Billy Gilmour due to an ankle strain, while Lukas Rupp, Mathias Normann, Christoph Zimmermann and Andrew Omobamidele are also injured.
Todd Cantwell has come down with an illness but could supposedly be on his way out of the club anyway, with Rashica and Teemu Pukki set to return up top over Kieran Dowell and Christos Tzolis.
Max Aarons and Brandon Williams will also expect to return to the full-back areas, and Ozan Kabak can also expect to be demoted to the bench by Ben Gibson.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Masuaku; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals; Antonio
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Williams; McLean, Sorensen, Lees-Melou; Sargent, Pukki, Rashica
We say: West Ham United 3-0 Norwich City
In spite of their autumnal struggles, West Ham have started 2022 as they mean to go on and should have no difficulty securing another win and clean sheet against a hapless Norwich side.
The Canaries' goalscoring woes have been well-documented all season long, and Smith will be unlikely to see his attackers hit their stride here, even with the hosts missing several defensive names.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Ham United win with a probability of 57.03%. A draw had a probability of 23.4% and a win for Norwich City had a probability of 19.56%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Ham United win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.59%) and 2-1 (9.76%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.12%), while for a Norwich City win it was 0-1 (6.34%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that West Ham United would win this match.
