Julen Lopetegui says he expects to be under pressure after West Ham's recent struggles at home but hopes to put that right against Ipswich Town. (More Football News)
West Ham have won just one of their six Premier League matches so far, away to Crystal Palace, but have lost all three of their home fixtures, conceding eight goals and scoring&nbs꧑p;twice.
Having failed to win any of their last four in the league, along with a heavy 5-1 defeat to🤪 Liverpool in the EFL Cup before last week's draw at Brentford, Lopetegui is coming under a little pressure alrea💟dy.
However, the Spaniard is not faze꧂d by that, explai🌌ning his team are working hard to change their fortunes at the London Stadium.
"Always it's 🎃very important to win, and that's why we work hard every day💎. We want to win for sure," Lopetegui said.
"Ipswich are a goo𒈔d team, and all our thoughts are on Saturday.
"Our job is to live under pressure, and it is n🙈ormal because we haven't won at home yet. That's why we are working, to try and win on Saturday against Ipswich."
Meanwhile, the Traꦐctor Boys are still searching for their first win since being promoted back to the top-flight.
There is reason to be optimistic though, as Ipswich have drawn each of their♛ last four outings, including 2-2 against Aston Villa last weekend.
Kieran McKenna is expecting another to✅ugh test but knows his players will show their competitiveness once again.
"I know it is another big game, another big challenge and on♛e to look forward to," McKenna said.
"Let's hope we c🔯an make it really competitive. I don't think there [will be] many weeks this year where we are going to blow teams out of the water, so we need to work really, really hard to be competitive.
"We ho🦩pe we can be really clinical in our execution when we have our moments and defend their moments 🅷well to give ourselves a chance to get a result."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham – Tomas Soucek
🐬Tomas Soucek netted his 29th Premier League goal for West Ham Uniteꦡd in their 1-1 draw with Brentford, overtaking Milan Baros (28) into second place for the top Czechia scorers in Premier League history.
He is now only behind Patrik Berger (38 goals), a recor꧑d he will be keen to start chasing down.
Ipswich Town – Sam Morsy
No player has more Premier League yellow cards this season than Ipswich midfielder Sam Morsy (four) an🐲d was perhaps lucky not to receive a second against Aston Villa last weekend.
Since his Ipswich league debut in September 2021, only one player has more yellow cards in the league in England's top four tiers than Morsy's total oওf 40, but given his importanceℱ to McKenna's side, the manager will be hoping he can avoid another.
MATCH PREDICTION: WEST HAM WIN
West Ham have lost just one of their eight Prem♊ier League meetings with Ipswich (W3 D4), a 1-0 home loss in March 2001. Their last such meeting was a 3-1 victory for the Hammers in March 2002.
However, Ipswich won their last two league meetings with West Ham, beating them 1-0 away and 5-1 at home in the 2011-12 Championꦿship campaign.
West Ham have lost their three home Premier League games this season, the first time they have started a season with three home defeats. The Hammers have not suffered four defeats in a row in the top-flight at the London Stadium sinc🅺e the final four home matches of Manuel Pellegrini's reign in November-December 2019.
Indeed, West Ham have won just five points in their opening six Premier Leaꦺgue matches this season (W♏1 D2 L3), the fifth time in the last nine seasons they have had five or fewer points at this stage of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Ipswich are winless in all six Premier League ga🌟mes this season (D2 L4), only once starting a top-flight season with a longer winless start, in 1969-70 (seven games).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
West Ham – 51.3%
Draw – 23.8%
Ipswich Town – 24.9%
