United return to domestic action after reaching the Europa League final thanks to a 4-1 comeback win over Athletic Club on the night and a 7-1 hiding on aggregate.
While that may suggest we should be coming into this one with a lot of confidence, we've had situations like these throughout the season in which we win well in Europe on the Thursday only to fall short in the league on Sunday.
One of the positives though, is that we do have players returning yet we will be seeing more rotation. Whether the main players will play at all remains to be seen.
West Ham are always a tricky customer for United as well so we should be expecting another tough assignment.
Predicted Lineup
Other than De Ligt who Amorim confirmed will be out of this game, the defense remains the same from last week's trip to Brentford: Bayindir for Onana with Fredricson, Shaw and Lindelof ahead. No Maguire as the manager says that he is one of those players who are at a risk of injury so will not be risked.
The same for Mazraoui who is returning from injury himself. This will see Dorgu on the right with Amass on the left, the same as was at Brentford.
With Ugarte having been taken off with half an hour to go on Thursday, I think Amorim will start him alongside Eriksen with Mainoo and main man Mount as the two 10s behind the striker of Chido Obi.
Approach
With a side like that or whichever rotated team the manager selects, it will be difficult to gauge how we will actually play in this game.
We are at home though which will mean that we will have to be more on the front foot. West Ham will also probably let us have more of the ball which isn't something that we like. United are still a side that prefers to hit on the break themselves but I doubt that will be the case in this match.
There is also a lot of inexperience in that team which could be a difference-maker as well.
Dorgu being out of position could be a problem too. Amorim was talking about Garnacho in his presser and how not having that characterisic of being able to play with both feet is a small detail that makes a major difference. The same could be said of Dorgu who will be on the right instead of his preferred left.
He is a player that has come under a lot of criticism due to his inconsistent performances. I'm not actually sure what people were expecting from a young player coming into a dysfunctional team and even worse run club.
Dorgu does need to improve but he isn't the only one.
But why these inconsistencies are a problem is because United still have that tendency to attack down the left more than the right. That left flank is where Dorgu usually plays but that attacking responsibility will have to go to Amass for this match who is even younger still.
We probably need a new LWB.
'What Chido Obi is facing is what all our strikers have faced over the years and that is a lack of service. I don't remember him having too many chances when he;s been in the side. It's great that he's getting minutes but what's the point if he's not involved?
Amorim will want to see more opportunities created for him because he does clearly have some talent, talent that people would say is better than Hojlund.
It would be nice if we just win however we play. We don't see that too often in the league anymore.
Form
United have yet to win back-to-back games in the league this season which is hard to think considering we are just three matches from it's completion.
History will tell us that we've never gone a season with such a stat, probably.
Whether that's true or not, it's still mental to think about.
Our last game was our 16th defeat of the season, the most we've ever had in the Premier League. In fact, United last won a game in the league in the 3-0 win over Leicester, seven matches ago in mid-March.
WTF! I knew we were bad domestically but good God!
That defeat to Brentford dropped United to 15th in the table meaning we are now just 2 points ahead of West Ham in 17th. Spurs are sandwiched in-between on 38 points with that battle for the final spot above relegation being hotter than that for the Champions League.
We also have just one win at home in the PL in the last six which was the 3-2 win over Ipswich.
The league isn't that important anymore 🤷♂️😅.
West Ham
As mentioned, the Hammers are just 2 points behind United on 37. They have had a disappointing season themselves thanks to the poor form they had earlier in the campaign when previous manager Julen Lopetegui was in charge.
Yes much like United West Ham sacked their manager who started the season. Former Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter is now at the helm.
The Hammers have 9 wins, 10 draws and 16 defeats, the same as us. Whilst our goal difference of -9 ain't great, Potter's side have a terrible -19 to their name. Only the bottom three have a worse GD.
Their recent form is also as inconsistent as ours as they too have failed to win any of their last five (three draws, two losses).
West Ham are also 17th in the away table with four wins, five draws and eight losses. The 18 they've scored on their travels sees only Leicester (16), Southampton (13) and Everton (12) having scored fewer.
Against the big 6, in their 11 matches, the Hammers have eight losses, one draw and two wins with one of those victories coming against United. That proved to be the final nail in Erik ten Hag's coffin as MUFC boss.
Of course they have enough players who can hurt us with Jarrod Bowen being at the top of the list, He scored in that 2-1 win earlier this season. German Niclas Fullkrug was added last summer, Mohammed Kudus (who also scored a couple of goals against United), Crysencio Summerville, Evan Ferguson who was signed in January from Brighton and ex-Red Aaron Wan-Bissaka are more than capable of causing us problems.
One player I intentionally left out was Lucas Paqueta. He is actually going through a tough time as he has been charged for allegedly breaching betting rules by intentionally getting booked in order to receive financial gain.
In their last match, the Brazilian was booked and was in tears afterwards due to his case in which we will get a verdict on whether he is guilty or not next month. If found guilty, Paqueta could receive a lifetime ban.
A very difficult situation for the midfielder indeed.
Recent Meetings
We actually have a poor record against the Hammers as in the last four in the Premier League, United have one win and three losses!
The good news for us though, is that West Ham have just one win in their last six visits to Old Trafford in the league. That came in 2021 when they won 1-0.
This match gives West Ham the chance to do the double over us which they haven't done since a very long time ago.
Prediction
Games between these two sides have also been quite close over the years although we did pick up a 3-0 win in this fixture last season.
I don't think something like that will happen this time around as we don't really do that in the league anymore. With a rotated and young-ish lineup and West Ham's poor record at OT, I'm going for a 1-0 win or 1-1 draw.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka moved from Man Utd to West Ham last summer | Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images via Hammers News
Tyler Fredricson made his first team debut in the defeat to Wolves | Tyler Fredricson: Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)