West Ham vs Southampton preview: Lamadrid out for West Ham

West Ham United host Southampton in the Championship at the London Stadium on Saturday 24 October, with kick-off at 3pm. Michael Salisbury is the referee for the Matchweek 12 fixture.

West Ham are second with 22 points from 11 matches, having won six, drawn four and lost one. Southampton are eighth with 17 points from 11 matches, five behind their hosts. West Ham have scored 30 goals and conceded 12, while Southampton have scored 21 and conceded 10.

Recent form

West Ham have won three, drawn two and lost one of their last six matches, scoring 18 goals and conceding six. They beat Wrexham 6-0 and Lincoln City 6-0 in that run, and their most recent match was a 1-0 win away at Swansea City. Their only defeat in the six was 3-2 at home to Fulham on 15 September.

Southampton have won four, drawn one and lost one of their last six, scoring 10 goals and conceding four. They beat Swansea City 3-1 and Bristol City 4-1 at home, lost 2-1 at Wrexham, then won 1-0 against both Portsmouth and Norwich City. Their latest match was a 0-0 home draw with Bolton Wanderers.

Team	Last six (oldest first)
West Ham	WLDDWW WLDDWW
Southampton	WWLWWD WWLWWD

West Ham: last six results

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
Sat 17 Oct	Away	Swansea City	1-0	W
Wed 14 Oct	Away	Lincoln City	6-0	W
Fri 9 Oct	Home	QPR	1-1	D
Sat 19 Sep	Away	Millwall	2-2	D
Tue 15 Sep	Home	Fulham	2-3	L
Fri 11 Sep	Home	Wrexham	6-0	W

Southampton: last six results

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
Sat 17 Oct	Home	Bolton Wanderers	0-0	D
Wed 14 Oct	Away	Norwich City	1-0	W
Sun 11 Oct	Home	Portsmouth	1-0	W
Sat 19 Sep	Away	Wrexham	1-2	L
Sat 12 Sep	Home	Bristol City	4-1	W
Tue 8 Sep	Home	Swansea City	3-1	W

What the managers said

Nuno Espírito Santo (West Ham)

Nuno gave an update on Keiber Lamadrid, who is out with a knee injury.

“Keiber is closer [to returning]. He’s improving.”

He said the rest of the squad came through the last match with some issues to assess.

“Of course, after matches we always have things to assess, and we have some issues, but generally the boys are okay.”

“Apart from Lamadrid, all the other boys are options for Saturday’s game.”

On Divine Mukasa, who is in the predicted line-up:

“We looked at Divine and we saw a quality player who we wanted to join us. We were delighted he came here, and he’s doing well. We’re very happy to have him.”

On the team’s defensive record and the return to east London:

“We want to keep more clean sheets, so we will work hard, and we will compete.”

“We are in a good place, but we’re aware that everything will be different tomorrow. We have to take this confidence onto the pitch. We’re looking forward to being back home.”

On the opposition:

“Southampton is full of quality players, including James. We will prepare as normal, looking at the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, and we have to be aware of many of their players.”

Tonda Eckert (Southampton)

Eckert spoke about Flynn Downes, who is being assessed.

“Getting better day after day. We’ll assess today and he’s doing everything to be involved tomorrow.”

On Cyle Larin’s hamstring problem:

“It’s that part of the hamstring towards the tendon, but it’s the same for him that he’s trying everything to make it tomorrow.”

On Caspar Jander:

“He’s had a very good week, so he’ll be involved tomorrow.”

On West Ham’s approach and where he expects the game to be decided:

“Structure-wise, I think there’s quite a lot that West Ham is very consistent in, the way they do things, especially against the ball.”

“And then I think a big part of it comes down to set-pieces. If we manage to control that, I think that we have a good chance of playing a good game.”

On his side’s attacking output and clean sheets:

“But for me, there’s nothing to worry about on an offensive side and we just take the positives that we manage to keep clean sheets and I’m very sure if we keep creating that we will score a lot more goals.”

On respect for opponents:

“…every game deserves some respect towards the opposition that you come up against, and I think many, many games this season have shown how important that is.”

Team news and predicted line-ups

West Ham will be without Keiber Lamadrid (knee), who Nuno Espírito Santo said is improving and closer to a return. Tomáš Souček is listed as absent with an ankle injury, although Nuno said that apart from Lamadrid all the other players are options for Saturday. Southampton have Mads Roerslev (knee) out. Tonda Eckert said Flynn Downes is getting better and is being assessed, and that Cyle Larin has a hamstring issue towards the tendon, separate from his back problem, which is fine, and is trying to be available. Caspar Jander is also listed with a hamstring injury, but Eckert said he will be involved on Saturday after a good week.

West Ham predicted XI (4-4-1-1): Mads Hermansen, Joël Veltman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Maximilian Kilman, Morato, Jarrod Bowen, Arne Engels, Divine Mukasa, Manor Solomon, Mohamadou Kanté, Taty Castellanos

Southampton predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Daniel Peretz, James Bree, Jack Stephens, Keven Schlotterbeck, Welington, James Ward-Prowse, Cameron Bragg, Finn Azaz, Léo Scienza, Kuryu Matsuki, Lewis Dobbin

Where West Ham can hurt Southampton

West Ham’s attack is the clearest point of pressure. They have scored 30 goals in 11 league matches and 18 in their last six games, including two 6-0 wins. Southampton have conceded 10 in 11 league matches, but they lost 2-1 at Wrexham, the only one of their last six away from home where they conceded.

Southampton’s recent output is narrow. In their last six matches they scored 10 goals, and three of their four wins in that run were 1-0, followed by a 0-0 draw with Bolton. West Ham have scored at least once in each of their last six matches. Home matches in that run brought a 6-0 win, a 3-2 defeat and a 1-1 draw, nine goals scored and four conceded.

Eckert named set-pieces as a big part of the match. West Ham’s quality in those moments is not covered by the facts available, but the Southampton manager’s comments show where he expects the contest to turn.

Where Southampton can hurt West Ham

Southampton can look to West Ham’s defensive record at home. West Ham have conceded 12 goals in 11 league matches, two more than Southampton, and they conceded in three of their last six matches. Fulham scored three against them at the London Stadium, and Nuno said “We want to keep more clean sheets”.

Southampton have shown they can score freely, with 3-1 and 4-1 home wins over Swansea City and Bristol City in their last six. They have 21 league goals in 11 matches, and Eckert said he sees “nothing to worry about on an offensive side”.

They also arrive with a solid defence, having conceded four goals in their last six games and kept clean sheets in three of them. Southampton have won one and lost one of the two away matches in that run, at Norwich City and Wrexham respectively.

How to watch

West Ham vs Southampton is not shown live on UK television: Saturday 3pm kick-offs fall in the UK broadcast blackout.

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