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After a five-game winless streak, West Ham have recovered to win three on the trot as they downed Watford and Palace in league action, before advancing past Leeds in the FA Cup.
Goals haven’t been in short supply as they’ve found the net at least twice in their past four outings now.
However, by the same token, the clean sheet against Marcelo Bielsa’s men last time out was their first in six, having conceded twice at a minimum in four of these games.
David Moyes will fancy his team’s chances of adding to their tally here with Norwich holding the joint-worst defensive record in the division, having shipped 42 goals in just 19 games.
The Canaries managed a rare clean sheet of their own as they edged out mid-table League One side Charlton in the FA Cup, but they had shut their opponents out just once in their previous 11 appearances.
That includes a run of five consecutive defeats before their encounter with third-tier opposition, as they lost encounters with Tottenham, Man Utd, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Crystal Palace by a combined 14-0 scoreline.
They’ve been by far the worst team offensively this season having netted just eight league goals, half the amount produced by the next-worst side in that regard, with Burnley having even played two games fewer.
Norwich have lost five of 10 winless encounters with top half teams in the league this season, but more alarmingly, they managed to score just a solitary goal across these games.
That sole concession was bagged against a Leicester side that have struggled defensively all season, and in fact they’ve found the net in just three of their 14 defeats in all competitions this season.
West Ham -1 Handicap
10 of those losses saw them go down by a minimum two goal margin, including all but one of the games on their current five-game losing streak in the league.
David Moyes played a near full-strength side against Leeds and so may consider some rotation here, though he’s not missing too many players in any case.
Aaron Creswell remains a major doubt with an ongoing back problem and so Ben Johnson and Arthur Masuaku should compete for the left-back spot, centre-backs Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna are unavailable, while Said Benrahma is away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Issa Diop and Craig Dawson pick themselves at the heart of defence then, with the duo starting together in each of the Hammers past seven outings.
For Norwich, Grant Hanley returned from injury at the weekend, while Max Aarons made an appearance form the bench, as Dean Smith’s injury problems are slowly easing.
However, Lukas Rupp, Mathias Norman, Andrew Omobamidele and Christoph Zimmermann should all miss out once again, Billy Gilmour is a doubt with an ankle complaint, while Todd Cantwell is seemingly destined for a January exit and may be excluded.
West Ham To Win To Nil
It’s hard to look past the home win here and Norwich have actually lost 12 of their past 15 on the road in the top flight stretching back into their last campaign at this level in 2019/20.
The only teams they’ve picked up points against are relegation-threatened Burnley and Newcastle, as well as promoted outfit Brentford.
The Hammers may of be the easiest of teams to trust defensively since injuries struck down Ogbonna and Zouma, but their visitors have been so dire going forwards that they ought to register a clean sheet here, while with their firepower, they’ll also expect to there to be clear daylight between the scores at the final whistle.
PREDICTION:
WEST HAM -1 HANDICAP
WEST HAM TO WIN TO NIL
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