Two teams who have made strong starts to the Premier League season will meet on Saturday afternoon as West Ham United take on Norwich City at Upton Park.
The Hammers have won four of their six league games and defeated leaders Manchester City last weekend, while the Canaries have recorded some impressive results following their promotion back to the top flight.
West Ham
© Getty Images
West Ham have proven to be one of the surprise packages in the early weeks of the season and they are currently third in the Premier League table after winning four of their six matches.
Three of those wins have come away from home, and they added to recent successes against Arsenal and Liverpool by beating leaders Manchester City at the Etihad last weekend.
Victor Moses opened the scoring, before Diafra Sakho gave the Hammers a two-goal lead. Kevin De Bruyne then pulled a goal back for City on the stroke of half time, but the visitors withstood heavy pressure after the break to take all three points.
Slaven Bilic will be hoping that his team can transfer that form to their home games, as they have won just one of their matches at Upton Park this season.
That sole victory came against Newcastle United last Monday, following defeats to Leicester City and Bournemouth last month.
West Ham lost to the Foxes for the second time this season in the third round of the League Cup on Tuesday evening, as an extra-time winner from Andy King dumped them out of the tournament.
Recent form: LLWWWL
Norwich
© Getty Images
The Canaries may not have matched the spectacular results that West Ham have achieved in recent weeks, but they have made a confident start to life back in the Premier League.
They have picked up eight points from their opening six league fixtures, and most recently they held Liverpool to a goalless draw at Anfield.
The only games that they have lost this season have been a controversial opening-day defeat to Crystal Palace and a 3-0 reverse at Southampton, where they played an hour of the match with 10 men.
Alex Neil's side are currently on a three-game unbeaten run, and they warmed up for the trip to Upton Park this weekend by romping to a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup on Wednesday evening.
With league matches against Leicester, Newcastle United and West Brom to come in the next few weeks, the Canaries will be hoping to maintain their positive start as they look to establish their place in the top flight.
Recent form: DWLWDW
Team News
© Getty Images
West Ham will be expected to make a number changes to the starting lineup after their cup tie against Leicester went to extra time.
Dimitri Payet, Winston Reid and Sakho should all return, but Angelo Ogbonna, Alex Song and Enner Valencia are still ruled out through injury.
Meanwhile, the visitors will be without Matt Jarvis, who is ineligible to play against his parent club.
However, Wes Hoolahan is expected to make his return to the starting lineup, with Cameron Jerome leading the attack.
West Ham possible starting lineup:
Adrian, Jenkinson, Reid, Tomkins, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Lanzini, Payet, Moses, Sakho
Norwich possible starting lineup:
Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady, Redmond, Tettey, Dorrans, Howson, Hoolahan, Jerome
Head To Head
Norwich have struggled against West Ham in recent years and they have won just one of the past nine meetings between the two teams.
That sole victory for the Canaries occurred two seasons ago where goals from Gary Hooper, Robert Snodgrass and Leroy Fer helped them to a 3-1 win.
However, it was the Hammers who claimed a 2-0 victory when the clubs played each other last February thanks to late strikes from James Collins and Mohamed Diame.
We say: West Ham 1-1 Norwich
West Ham will be expected by many to record a win against Norwich following their display against Manchester City last weekend, but they have not always been able to find their best form on home soil. Norwich have also proven that they can grind out a result away from home, which is why we think that the match will end all square at Upton Park.
No Data Analysis info
