Manchester United vs West Ham United

Manchester United and West Ham United are set to trade tackles at Old Trafford in a tasty-looking FA Cup fifth-round tie.

A hero welcome at the Theatre of Dreams awaits Manchester United after a 2-0 win over Newcastle United in the weekend’s League Cup final cut short the club’s longest title drought since the 1980s. After becoming the first Man Utd boss since Jose Mourinho to lift a major title in his debut season in charge of the ‘Red Devils,’ Erik ten Hag is looking to lead his team to another Wembley showpiece. Playing at Old Trafford bodes well, with United going unbeaten in their last 18 competitive home outings (W16, D2) while scoring 2+ goals in each of the last 13 in a row. Adding to Man Utd’s confidence, a single home defeat to West Ham since 2007 (W15, D3) suggests this midweek contest could be a walk in the park.

In the meantime, West Ham’s bid to halt Man Utd’s impressive 15-game unbeaten run in home FA Cup games (W13, D2) received a morale boost at the weekend as they thumped Nottingham Forest 4-0 at home to end a three-match winless streak (D2, L1). Despite the visitors’ travel sickness in 2023, they can be safe in the knowledge their only two away wins this calendar year have arrived in the FA Cup (D2, L2 otherwise). Both those triumphs have come ‘to nil,’ highlighting the importance of breaking the deadlock. If David Moyes’ arrest an underwhelming run of consecutive 1-0 losses at Old Trafford, they will reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2015/16, so motivation shouldn’t be a problem.