West Ham United vs Stoke City. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance56,970.
Saturday 5 November 2016 15:30, UK
West Ham will be aiming to make it back-to-back Premier League wins at the London Stadium when Stoke City visit on Saturday.
The Hammers are 10 points worse off than at this stage last season but their form has picked up in recent weeks, winning three of their last four games in all competitions, although they were beaten 2-0 by Everton last weekend.
Stoke are also in good form after a wobbly start to the season. Mark Hughes' men have won their last three Premier League games after failing to win any of their opening seven fixtures.
Team news
West Ham will be without Winston Reid.
The New Zealand defender is suspended after collecting five yellow cards this season, although a hamstring injury would have kept him out anyway.
Strike duo Diafra Sakho (back) and Andy Carroll (knee) should be fit after the international break.
Meanwhile, Hughes has confirmed that Xherdan Shaqiri and Geoff Cameron are both unlikely to feature for Stoke.
Shaqiri was forced off during the Potters' 3-1 win over Swansea City on Monday night with a hamstring strain, while Cameron missed the clash against the Welsh side entirely with a knee injury.
It means Ramadan Sobhi and Charlie Adam could be in contention for a starting berth.
Opta Stats
After winning both games against them in Stoke's debut Premier League season, West Ham have beaten the Potters just twice more in their last 12 Premier League meetings (D5 L5).
Indeed, Stoke are unbeaten in their last six league meetings with West Ham (W3 D3) - only against Blackburn have they had a longer unbeaten run in the Premier League (7 games).
Stoke have won just six of their 44 Premier League games in London (D9 L29), with two of those coming against West Ham (both 1-0 in March 2010 and August 2013).
Joe Allen has been involved in half of Stoke City's 12 Premier League goals this season (four goals, two assists).
Dimitri Payet has created more goalscoring chances than any other player in the Premier League this season (33).
West Ham have converted just 6.6 per cent of their total shots into goals this season in the Premier League; a lower ratio than any other team.
Slaven Bilic will be looking to win for the 20th time as West Ham manager in the Premier League, in what will be his 49th match. Bilic has the best win ratio of any permanent West Ham manager in the competition (39.6 per cent).
Merson's prediction
Stoke have turned the corner big time and West Ham are looking up as well, despite their poor result at Everton last week. Stoke played well against Swansea and Wilfried Bony getting off the mark for them was important.
Neither clubs had a great start to the season but they're getting better and better, I don't see a lot between these two teams so I'm going to go for a draw.
Paul predicts: 1-1 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
Betting
West Ham are Sky Bet's even-money favourites for the victory with Stoke 13/5, the same price as the draw. Neither side are perceived to hold much in terms of lofty aspirations this season following troubled starts, with West Ham 2/1 just to secure a top-half finish while the Potters are even longer odds at 7/2.
The first goalscorer market is a wide open one, with no less than five West Ham players, including Dimitri Payet and Michail Antonio, sharing favouritism at 11/2, while Wilfried Bony heads the betting for the visitors at 7/1.
