West Ham United vs Bristol City

A place in the FA Cup round of 16 is up for grabs as West Ham United and Bristol City go head-to-head at London Stadium.

Back-to-back 2-0 Premier League victories against Arsenal and Manchester United at the tail-end of 2023 reinforced West Ham’s faint hopes of securing their first top-four finish in the 21st century. However, David Moyes’ side failed to maintain that momentum at the start of the new calendar year, drawing 0-0 against Brighton at home. Nonetheless, three consecutive clean sheets in the build-up to this meeting make for good reading as they look to avoid exiting the FA Cup in the third round for the first time since 2016/17. There’s another reason for optimism among the home supporters. Virtually unplayable at London Stadium, the ‘Irons’ are unbeaten in their last eight competitive home games (W6, D2), racking up five clean sheets in that sequence.

In the meantime, visiting Bristol City endured a false start to 2024, succumbing to a narrow 1-0 home loss to fellow Championship rivals Millwall. It marked their first league defeat in five matches (W3, D1), but more ominously, their second failed attempt to get on the scoresheet in a row. With the odds heavily stacked against his side, manager Liam Manning must address Bristol’s form woes on the road after winning just once in their last eight away matches (D3, L4). Scoring problems have been at the thick of Bristol’s travel sickness as they’ve netted under 1.5 goals in seven of those eight games, except for a stunning 4-1 romping of Watford on Boxing Day. Though it’s been over a decade since the ‘Robins’ last faced West Ham in London, it’s worth noting they’ve failed to score in all three away H2Hs this century.